THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OFC/T.T~ORNIA 

T  O  S^T~~- 

LU  ^j 


HINTS 


SYSTEM 


POPULAR  EDUCATION: 


ADDRESSED  TO  R.  S.  FIELD,  ESQ. 

CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  EDUCATION  IN  THE  LEGISLATURE  OF  NEW 
JERSEY  ;    AND  TO 

THE  REV.  A.  B.  DOD, 

PROFESSOR  OF  MATHEMATICS  IN  THE  COLLEGE  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


BY    E.   C.   WINES, 

AUTHOR  OF  "  TWO  YEARS  AND  A  HALF  IN  THE  NAVY," 

AND  LATE  PRINCIPAL  OF  THE  EDGEHILL  SCHOOL. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
HOGAN  AND  THOMPSON, 

30  NORTH  FOURTH  STREET. 
1838, 


Entered,  according  to  the  act  of  Congress,  by  E.  C.  WINES,  in  the 
Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Eastern  District  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 


C.  SHERMAN  AND  CO.,  PRINTERS, 

19  St.  James  Street. 


LC 
75 


PREFACE 


WHOEVER  writes  a  book,  must  write  a  pre- 
face. This  is  one  of  the  laws  of  THE  TRADE: 
whether  it  is  more  honoured  in  the  breach,  or  in 
the  observance,  it  is  not  for  us  to  decide.  It  is  at 
least  a  time-honoured  custom,  from  which  we 
shall  not,  on  the  present  occasion,  hazard  a  de- 
parture. 

The  Preface  is  generally  an  Author's  Confes- 
sional; wherein  he  duly  bepraises  his  own  mo- 
desty, sets  forth  the  hurry  and  various  embarrass- 
ments under  which  his  work  was  written,  and 
then  humbly  craves  absolution  from  the  officiating 


8  PREFACE. 

priest,  who  is  no  other  than  that  respectable  and 
ever  indulgent  personage  the  Public.  This  is  all 
very  well,  and  it  usually  passes  for — what  it  is 
worth. 

Though  by  no  means  insensible  to  the  many 
deficiencies  and  imperfections  which  mark  the  fol- 
lowing production,  the  Author  offers  no  apology  for 
presenting  it  to  his  countrymen,  and  soliciting  for 
it  a  candid  perusal,  and  a  dispassionate  judgment, 
not  so  much  on  its  literary  merits,  as  on  the  prac- 
ticability and  expediency  of  carrying  out  its 
views  and  recommendations.  He  holds  that  who- 
ever publishes  a  book,  which  he  does  not  at  least 
hope  will  be  useful,  not  only  commits  an  act  of 
consummate  folly,  but  is  guilty  of  a  fraud  of  the 
worst  kind.  Nay,  he  is  chargeable  with  a  two- 
fold fraud.  He  deliberately  plunders  his  fellow- 
men  of  both  money  and  time,  and  is  the  more  re- 
prehensible, inasmuch  as  his  robbery  detracts  from 
our  mental  as  well  as  our  pecuniary  resources. 

The  work  presented  to  the  public  in  the  follow- 
ing pages,  is  the  result  of  much  experience,  and 


PREFACE.  9 

some  reading  and  observation  on  the  subject  to 
which  it  relates.  It  would  no  doubt  have  been  im- 
proved in  style  by  a  little  more  attention  to  that 
canon  of  Horace,  wherein  he  enjoins  long  waiting 
and  many  a  blot.  But  the  Author  writes  for  utility, 
rather  than  fame ;  his  object  is  to  excite  to  sober 
reflection,  rather  than  to  amuse  a  vacant  hour; 
and  he  trusts,  therefore,  that  where  his  principles 
are  approved,  relating  as  they  do  to  whatever  im- 
parts dignity  to  character,  stability  to  virtue,  and 
refinement  to  happiness,  minor  defects  will  be 
overlooked,  or  treated  with  indulgence. 

It  may  be  thought  by  some  that  I  have  dis- 
cussed the  question  of  religious  instruction  too 
much  in  detail,  and  quoted  too  copiously  on  that 
point  from  other  authors.  Perhaps  I  have.  If  so, 
the  unspeakable  importance  of  the  subject,  and 
the  unreasonable  prejudices  even  of  the  good  in 
relation  to  it,  will,  it  is  hoped,  be  considered  a  suf- 
ficient apology. 

Thus  much  it  was  perhaps  fitting  to  say.     Let 
1* 


10  PREFACE. 

this  suffice.  Without  further  preliminary,  the 
Author  "casts  his  bread  upon  the  waters"  with 
the  earnest  hope  and  prayer  that  he  may  "  find 
it  after  many  days." 

January  1,  1838. 


DEDICATION 


TO 


MESSRS.   FIELD    AND    DOD. 


GENTLEMEN, 

I  dedicate  and  address  the  following  pages  to  you, 
not  because  I  think  them  particularly  worthy  of 
your  notice,  nor  yet  for  the  purpose  of  enlightening 
you  in  reference  to  the  subject,  concerning  which 
they  treat.  Whatever  other  errors  I  may  have 
committed,  I  am  at  least  guiltless  of  so  gross  a  pre- 
sumption. 

I  am  actuated  by  a  different  motive.  The  occa- 
sion affords  me  an  opportunity,  which  I  gladly  em- 
brace, of  publicly  expressing  my  personal  regard, 
founded  upon  long  intercourse,  and  of  bearing  testi- 


12  DEDICATION. 

mony  to  your  zealous  services  in  behalf  of  the  cause 
of  Popular  Education. 

Shall  I  avow  an  additional  motive,  rather  selfish 
in  its  character  1  The  truth  may  as  well  be  con- 
fessed. I  hoped  to  impart  a  somewhat  more  lively 
air  to  a  treatise,  destined,  I  fear,  to  be  more  repul- 
sive, in  any  form,  to  the  generality  of  readers,  than 
I  could  desire. 

You  will  perhaps  inquire  whether  I  expect  you 
to  become  the  advocates  of  the  immediate  adoption 
in  practice  of  all  the  views  I  have  attempted  to  en- 
force ?  I  answer  frankly,  no  ;  nor  do  I  thus  advo- 
cate them  myself.  I  do  not  think  it  either  expedient 
to  make  the  attempt  to  the  extent  here  intimated  at 
the  present  time,  or  possible  to  accomplish  the  ob- 
ject, if  it  were  attempted.  And  this  opinion,  or 
something  like  it,  I  have  expressed  in  the  body  of 
the  work.  My  aim  has  been  to  trace  the  outlines 
of  such  a  system  of  public  instruction  as,  in  my 
judgment,  every  State  in  this  Union  ought,  sooner 
or  later,  to  adopt ;  and  one  which,  I  am  persuaded, 
all  may  ultimately  secure,  by  the  gradual  operation 


DEDICATION.  13 

of  moral  causes,  aided  by  judicious  legislation.  The 
standard  I  have  sketched  is  high  ;  but  may  not  the 
child  be  already  in  existence,  who  will  see  practical 
education  fully  up  to  it,  if  not  even  beyond?  I 
should  esteem  the  gift  of  foresight  any  thing  but  a 
blessing,  if  it  revealed  to  me  the  certainty,  that  this 
would  not  be  the  case.  At  the  same  time  I  am  free 
to  declare  that,  if  I  were  drawing  a  bill  to  present 
to  any  legislature  in  the  United  States  at  the  present 
time,  I  would  take  good  care  to  omit  much  that  I 
have  recommended  in  these  Hints. 

If  the  principles  herein  advocated,  and  the  sug- 
gestions hazarded,  meet  your  enlightened  approba- 
tion, if  they  are  favourably  received  by  my  fellow 
citizens  generally,  and,  more  than  all,  if  they  con- 
tribute in  any  degree  to  hasten  the  result  so  ardently 
desired, — the  improvement  and  perfection  of  our 
common  schools, — my  highest  ambition  will  have 
been  satisfied. 

With  the  expression  of  a  devout  wish  that  your 
career  of  usefulness  may  be  long  and  uninterrupted, 


14  DEDICATION. 

and  that  your  labours  in  this  cause,  as  well  as  others, 
may  conduce  alike  to  your  own  fame,  and  to  the 
benefit  of  your  country,  and  of  mankind,  I  am, 
Gentlemen, 

Your  friend  and  faithful  servant, 

THE  AUTHOR. 
Princeton,  New  Jersey,  January  I,  1838. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

NECESSITY  OF  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  DUTY  OF 
EDUCATING  THE  PEOPLE. 

Importance  of  Popular  Education — Object  of  the  Work — Salu- 
tary Nature  of  the  Contest  beween  Prejudice  and  the  Spirit  of 
Innovation — Precipitate  Action  to  be  avoided — The  Duty  of 
making  Provision  by  Law  for  the  Education  of  the  People — 
Influence  of  Education  in  elevating  the  Character  and  pro- 
moting the  Happiness  of  Nations — Comparison  between  Scot- 
land and  Ireland — Oberlin  and  the  Ban  de  la  Roche — Influ- 
ence of  Education  on  Families — Contrast  between  a  well  Edu- 
cated and  an  Ignorant  Family — Foster's  Picture  of  an  Igno- 
rant Family — Influence  of  Education  on  Individuals — Pro- 
motes Personal  Dignity  and  Happiness — Combe's  Contrast 
between  Savage  and  Civilised  Man — Universal  Education  a 
Pecuniary  Gain  to  a  Country — First,  by  its  Effect  on  Legisla- 
tion— Secondly,  by  diminishing  Expensive  Amusements  and 
checking  Sensual  Indulgences — Thirdly,  by  diminishing  the 
Spirit  and  consequently  the  Expense  of  Litigation — Fourthly, 
by  its  tendency  to  diminish  Pauperism,  and  to  lessen  the 
number  of  Criminal  Prosecutions — Fifthly,  by  increasing  the 


16  CONTENTS. 

Capacity  of  each  Individual  in  the  Community,  by  enabling 
him  to  turn  his  Powers  to  the  best  account,  and  by  Prolonging 
the  average  Period  of  Human  Existence — Sixth,  by  its  ten- 
dency to  quicken  ingenuity,  and  thus  to  promote  original 
inventions  and  Discoveries — and  Seventh,  by  enabling  men 
to  push  their  Researches  indefinitely  into  the  Powers  and 
Production  of  Physical  Nature — Connexion  of  Popular  Educa- 
tion with  the  Perpetuity  of  our  Civil  Institutions — Our  Political 
Fabric  encompassed  with  Dangers — Education  the  Remedy, 
the  only  adequate  Safeguard — Summing  up  of  the  Argument  in 
support  of  the  Necessity  of  Popular  Educntion,  and  the  Duty 
of  the  State  to  provide  for  it.  -  -  -  25-99 


CHAPTER  II. 

BRANCHES  OF  STUDY  PROPER  FOR  COMMON 
SCHOOLS. 

Preliminary  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Object  of  Education — 
This  Term,  in  its  broadest  sense,  comprehends  all  the  Influ- 
ences which  act  upon  Man — These  Influences  ranged  by  Fos- 
ter under  five  Heads — A  Sixth  added — Education  produces 
two  classes  of  Effects — Important  in  both  Aspects,  and  why — 
Object  of  Education — Complex  Nature  of  Man  must  be  consi- 
dered— His  Relations  must  be  understood — These  Relations 
pointed  out — His  Destination — His  Relations  and  Destina- 
tion indicate  the  Education  suited  to  his  Nature — Education 
should  be  such  as  to  develope  our  Powers,  communicate  useful 


CONTENTS.  17 

Knowledge,  and  form  the  Disposition  and  the  Habit  of  Virtue 
— A  System  of  Popular  Education  should  prescribe  a  Course 
of  Study— Text-Books  prescribed  by  Law  in  Saxe  Weimar — 
Analytical  Description  of  them — Course  of  Study  enjoined  by 
Law  upon  the  Primary  Schools  of  Prussia — The  Prussian  sys- 
tem decried  in  an  Article  in  the  first  Number  of  the  Democra- 
tic Review — Sophistry  of  the  Argument,  and  Illiberality  of 
the  Attack — Our  Common  Schools  compared  with  those  of 
Saxe  Weimar  and  Prussia — Their  Inferiority — Limited  Course 
of  Studies — Superficial  Nature  of  the  Instructions  given — In- 
difference of  Parents — A  Fundamental  Reform  necessary — 
List  of  Studies  should  be  extended — Instruction  should  be 
made  more  thorough — Enumeration  of  Branches  proper  to  be 
introduced  into  Common  Schools — Objection  to  the  Course  re- 
commended "  that  it  would  consume  too  much  time,"  answer- 
ed— The  Author's  Views  confirmed  by  the  Course  of  Study  re- 
commended by  Dick — Necessity  of  Moral  and  Religious  In- 
struction insisted  upon  more  at  large — Religious  Education 
the  Foundation  of  all  good  Character — Essential  to  the  full 
Advantage  of  Intellectual  Education — Objection  to  the  Intro- 
duction of  Religious  Instruction  into  Popular  Schools — Not 
founded  in  Reason — Government  owes  Christianity  a  heavy 
Debt,  and  is  bound,  as  far  as  possible,  to  discharge  it — The 
awakening  of  Sectarian  Jealousies  apprehended — Method  by 
which  these  are  allayed  in  Prussia — Can  it  not  be  done  in  this 
Country  ? — Weight  of  Authority  in  favour  of  Religious  In- 
struction in  Schools — Opinions  of  Simpson,  Bulwer,  Cousin, 
and  Dick,  on  this  Question — The  objection  to  Universal  Edu- 
cation, "  that  it  would  raise  the  Labouring  Classes  above  their 
Sphere,"  considered  and  answered — Objection  to  the  Plan  re- 
commended founded  on  the  Principle  "  that  each  Parent  ought 
2 


18  CONTENTS. 

to  educate  his  own  Children" — This  Objection  based  on  Sel- 
fishness— A  just  Comprehension  of  the  Selfish  Principle  itself 
refutes  it.  ..  -  100-148 


CHAPTER  III. 

QUALIFICATION  OF  TEACHERS. 

Importance  of  this  point — Our  present  Deficiency  in  well  qualified 
Instructors — Classes  of  Men  who  chiefly  engage  in  this  busi- 
ness— Motives  which  actuate  them — Their  ignorance — Inade- 
quate Views  of  Parents — Anecdotes  illustrative  of  this — A 
Teacher  in  the  Ban  de  la  Roche — Empirical  Methods  of  In- 
struction— Inefficiency  in  Government — Its  Cause — School- 
Teaching  for  the  most  part  a  Temporary  Business — Some 
Exceptions  to  the  above  Remarks — Bad  effects  of  the  present 
State  of  Things  on  Teachers  and  Pupils — Our  general  Intel- 
ligence as  a  Nation  admitted — Not  attributable  to  our  Popular 
Schools — Its  true  Causes  pointed  out — Glorious  Results 
might  be  looked  for  from  the  Union  of  these  Causes  and 
a  well  organized  System  of  Popular  Education — Conditions  of 
such  a  System — Provision  for  the  Education  of  Teachers  a 
most  important  Condition — Practical  Error  of  Parents  in  this 
Matter — Deplorable  Effect  of  it — Teaching  must  be  made  a 
Profession,  and  become  respectable — No  office  more  truly 
honourable  than  that  of  an  Instructor — Its  present  degradation 
— Must  be  raised  to  its  proper  Rank — This  can  be  effected  only 
by  the  Establishment  of  Teachers1  Seminaries — Institutions 
of  this  Kind  the  intellectual  Want  of  the  Age — Prussia  al- 


CONTENTS.  19 

ready  supplied  with  them — Reference  to  some  other  Countries 
— Origin  and  History  ofthese  Institutions — Their  great  Import- 
ance— They  are  the  Life- Blood  of  an  efficient  System  of  Popu- 
lar Education — Their  Necessity  insisted  on  by  all  Writers  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic — Extract  from  the  Edinburgh  Re- 
view on  this  Subject — The  question  examined  whether  these 
Seminaries  should  be  connected  with  other  Institutions,  or 
exist  under  a  separate  Organization — Three  Reasons  for  prefer- 
ring the  latter  Plan — Its  effect  would  be  better,  first,  on  the 
character  of  the  Teacher ;  secondly,  on  their  Respectability ; 
thirdly,  on  their  Education — General  Principles  of  Organiza- 
tion— Two  leading  Results  to  be  aimed  at — good  Teachers 
and  some  security  that  they  will  exercise  their  Profession  in 
the  State  where  educated — Details  more  difficult — The  lights  of 
Experience  wanting  among  us — Must  look  to  Prussia  for 
Model  Schools — Conduct  of  Men  in  Parallel  Cases  in  the  ordi- 
nary Business  of  Life — Propriety  and  Utility  of  sending 
Agents  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  Prussian  Schools.  149- 
185. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

COMPENSATION  OF  TEACHERS. 

Present  inadequate  Compensation  of  Teachers — No  Class  in  the 
Community  so  poorly  rewarded — Wages  of  Mechanics  and 
other  Manual-Labourers  as  compared  with  the  pay  of  School- 
Masters — Compensation  of  Instructors  as  indicated  by  the 


20  CONTENTS. 

School-Returns  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York — Alarming 
Nature  of  the  Facts  disclosed  by  these  Returns — Manifold 
Evils  of  this  ill-judged  Parsimony — Examination  into  the 
Claims  of  Competent  and  Faithful  Teachers  to  receive  a  libe- 
ral Reward — Justice  requires  it — Sound  Policy  requires  it — 
Teachers  should  be  supplied  with  the  Means  of  maintaining  a 
Family — The  Question,  what  would  be  a  fair  average  Salary  ? 
considered — Inquiry  into  the  Cost  of  the  System  recommend- 
ed— Twenty  Millions  a  Year  for  the  Whole  United  States — 
This  Sum  compared  with  the  Object  in  View  and  the  Advan- 
tages that  would  result  from  the  Attainment  of  the  Object — 
Whence  is  the  Money  to  come  ? — This  Question  dispassionate- 
ly answered — First,  from  the  Annual  Proceeds  arising  from 
the  Sale  of  Public  Lands — Secondly,  from  the  Interest  of  the 
Surplus  Revenue  deposited  with  the  States — Thirdly,  from  the 
Avails  of  present  and  additional  Grants  of  Land  for  this  Pur- 
pose— These  three  Sources  would  give  ten  Millions  a  Year — 
The  other  ten  Millions  to  be  raised  by  the  Districts  them- 
selves— Those  who  refuse,  to  receive  none  of  the  Public 
Money — Present  Endowments — Bequests — The  Nation  ex- 
pends liberally  for  less  important  Objects — Florida  War — 
Last  War  with  Great  Britain — Astounding  Fact  in  relation  to 
the  Cost  of  the  Wars  in  which  England  was  concerned  be- 
tween 1688  and  1815 — Enough  to  Educate  the  whole  World 
to  the  End  of  Time — Poverty  and  Economy  of  Nations  when 
Education  is  to  be  provided  for — Our  Parsimony  in  main- 
taining Schools  a  National  Disgrace — A  more  liberal  Compen- 
sation to  Schoolmasters  essential  to  an  efficient  Education  of 
the  People — The  necessary  Expenditure  really  small  in  Com- 
parison with  our  Resources  and  the  Vastness  of  the  Object  to 
be  gained.  .....  186-204 


CONTENTS.  21 

CHAPTER  V. 

BOOKS,  CABINETS,  AND  APPARATUS— LOCATION 
AND  ARCHITECTURE  OF  SCHOOL  HOUSES. 

Aversion  of  Children  to  Study — Knowledge  the  natural  Food  of 
the  Mind — Misdirected  Love  of  Knowledge  the  Occasion  of 
the  Fall  of  Man — Pleasures  of  Knowledge  exemplified  in  the 
Cases  of  Archimedes  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton — Solution  of  the 
apparent  Contradiction  involved  in  the  general  Aversion  to 
Study  and  the  innate  Love  of  Knowledge — Attributable  to  the 
Want  of  good  School-Books  and  the  Prevalence  of  bad  Me- 
thods of  Instruction — Any  other  Explanation  would  impugn 
the  Wisdom  and  Goodness  of  God — Decision  of  Reason  on 
this  Point — Testimony  of  Experience — Various  Cases  referred 
to— Letter  of  a  Young  Man  mentioned  by  Mr.  Combe — 
Branches  of  Learning  pursued  in  German  Boarding-Schools 
— The  Teacher  the  Friend  of  his  Pupils — Inspection  and 
Explanation  of  Machinery — Pedestrian  Excursions  into  the 
Country — Last  several  Weeks — Pupils  required  to  write  Jour- 
nals— The  Author's  own  Practice  while  Principal  of  the  Edge- 
hill  School — Its  Results — Improvements  made  in  School-Books 
of  late  Years — Higher  Improvements  needed — Difficulty  of 
preparing  Text- Books  of  a  proper  Character — Requires  a  high 
Order  of  Talent  and  great  Learning  and  Experience — Gene- 
ral Principles  on  which  all  School-Books  should  be  constructed 
— Class-Books  now  in  use  compared  with  this  Standard — 
Verbal  Instruction  instead  of  real — Philosophy  of  the  Infant 
Mind  should  be  studied — The  Leadings  of  Nature  followed — 
Lessons  on  Objects — Biographies — Stories  of  Real  Life — Im- 
portance of  Truth — Reading — Books  on  Natural  History  and 


22  CONTENTS. 

cognate  Sciences — Misapprehension  guarded  against — Mis- 
ccllancous  Library — Of  what  Classes  of  Works  to  be  composed 
— Cabinets  of  Natural  History — Chemical  and  Philosophical 
Apparatus — Influence  of  these  Aids — Location  and  Architec- 
ture of  School-houses — Objects  of  Importance — Present  De- 
fects— Improvements  recommended.  -  -  205-224 


CHAPTER  VI. 

GENERAL  ORGANIZATION— OBSTACLES— EN- 
COURAGEMENTS. 

A  good  Organic  Constitution  necessary  to  the  efficiency  of  a  sys- 
tem of  Popular  Education — A  Consideration  of  the  Objects  to 
be  accomplished  by  it  necessary  to  its  Formation — Various 
Officers  essential — Their  Services  should  be  remunerated — 
Organization  should  be  as  simple  as  possible — Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction — County  Commissioners — Trustees  for 
Townships — School  Inspectors — Their  various  Duties — Means 
for  securing  Regular  Attendance  of  Pupils,  and  Fidelity  and 
Teachers — Diffidence  with  which  these  Suggestions  are  made 
— Consideration  of  Obstacles — Indifference  of  the  People — 
Various  Proofs  of  it — Lagging  Legislation — Feebleness  of  Vo- 
luntary Associations — Periodicals  on  Education  unsupported 
— Difficulty  of  removing  this  Indifference — Admitted  Costli 
ness  a  great  Obstacle — Ought  not  to  be — Friends  of  Educa- 
tion must  be  content  to  labour  for  remote  Results — Obstacles 
arising  from  Points  in  our  Social  System,  and  Traits  in  our 


CONTENTS.  23 

National  Character — The  Lust  of  Wealth  and  the  Leaven  of 
Agitation  hinder  Reform — Multiplication  and  Intermingling 
of  Religious  Sects  a  Hindrance — Remoteness  and  Impalpable 
nature  of  the  Benefits  to  be  gained  a  great  Impediment — Our 
duty  to  provide  for  Posterity — This  duty  plainly  written  on  the 
.Creator's  Plan — Pleasure  arising  from  its  Performance — En- 
couragements— Indifference  giving  way — Much  has  been  al- 
ready accomplished — Formation  of  Lyceums — Example  of 
other  Countries — Popular  Education  not  a  Political  Question 
— The  Press  unanimous  in  its  Favour — Concluding  Appeal  to 
Statesmen  and  Legislators.  -  -  -  225.255 


HINTS 


POPULAR    EDUCATION. 


CHAPTER  I. 

NECESSITY  OF  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    DUTY 
OF  EDUCATING  THE  PEOPLE. 

Importance  of  Popular  Education — Object  of  the  Work — Salu- 
tary Nature  of  the  Contest  between  Prejudice  and  the  Spirit 
of  Innovation — Precipitate  Action  to  be  avoided — The  Duty 
of  making  Provision  by  Law  for  the  Education  of  the  People 
— Influence  of  Education  in  elevating  the  Character  and  pro- 
moting the  Happiness  of  Nations — Comparison  between 
Scotland  and  Ireland — Oberlin  and  the  Ban  de  la  Roche — 
Influence  of  Education  on  Families — Contrast  between  a 
well  Educated  and  an  Ignorant  Family — Foster's  Picture  of 
an  Ignorant  Family — Influence  of  Education  on  Individuals 
— Promotes  Personal  Dignity  and  Happiness — Combe's  con- 
trast between  Savage  and  Civilized  Man — Universal  Educa- 
tion a  Pecuniary  Gain  to  a  Country — First,  by  its  Effect  on 
Legislation — Secondly,  by  diminishing  Expensive  Amuse- 
ments and  checking  Sensual  Indulgences — Thirdly,  by  di- 
minishing the  Spirit  and  consequently  the  Expense  of  Liti- 
gation— Fourthly,  by  its  tendency  to  diminish  Pauperism, 
and  to  lessen  the  number  of  Criminal  Prosecutions — Fifthly, 
by  increasing  the  Capacity  of  each  Individual  in  the  Com- 
3 


26     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Importance  of  Popular  Education.    Object  of  the  Work. 

munity,  by  enabling  him  to  turn  his  Powers  to  the  best  ac- 
count, and  by  Prolonging  the  average  Period  of  Human 
Existence — Sixth,  by  its  tendency  to  quicken  Ingenuity,  and 
thus  to  promote  original  Inventions  and  Discoveries — and 
Seventh,  by  enabling  Men  to  push  their  Researches  indefi- 
nitely into  the  Powers  and  Productions  of  Physical  Nature 
— Connexion  of  Popular  Education  with  the  Perpetuity  of 
our  Civil  Institutions — Our  Political  Fabric  encompassed  with 
Dangers — Education  the  Remedy,  the  only  adequate  Safe- 
guard— Summing  up  of  the  Argument  in  support  of  the 
Necessity  of  Popular  Education,  and  the  Duty  of  the  State 
to  provide  for  it. 

GENTLEMEN : — 

THE  subject  of  Popular  Education  has  excited 
considerable  interest  of  late  years  not  only  among 
the  people,  but  in  the  legislatures,  of  many  of  the 
States  of  this  Union.  No  subject  can  more  wor- 
thily occupy  the  thoughts,  or  call  into  action  the 
energies  of  our  citizens,  in  their  individual  or 
social  capacity.  The  cause  of  education  is  em- 
phatically the  cause  of  the  people.  Its  importance 
transcends  and  overshadows  that  of  most,  if  not 
all,  others,  which  fall  within  the  scope  of  legisla- 
tive action.  It  is  identified  with  the  cause  ^f 
morality  and  religion,  with  the  true  glory  and 
prosperity  of  the  nation,  and  with  all  the  most 
important  interests  of  society.  To  exhibit  its 
importance,  to  point  out  some  of  the  deficiencies 
of  our  existing  systems  of  education,  and  to  pre- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  37 

Contest  between  Prejudice  and  the  spirit  of  Innovation. 

sent  some  views  as  to  the  degree  of  perfection  at 
which  we  ought  to  aim,  and  ultimately  to  arrive, 
is  the  object  of  the  following  pages.  The  subject 
will  not  be  treated  in  detail.  The  author  will 
confine  himself,  conformably  to  what  is  intimated 
in  the  title-page,  to  a  few  practical  "  hints"  in  re- 
lation to  it ;  which,  however,  he  hopes  will  meet 
with  your  approval,  and  with  the  general  appro- 
bation of  his  countrymen,  and  which,  in  all  mo- 
desty, he  commends  to  your  and  their  candid 
consideration ;  more  on  account  of  the  magnitude 
of  the  subject  and  the  greatness  of  the  interests 
involved,  than  -for  any  peculiar  merit  he  supposes 
they  may  possess  as  a  literary  production. 

Between  the  prejudice  which  clings  with  unre- 
laxing  grasp  to  whatever  enjoys  the  sanction  of 
age,  and  the  spirit  of  innovation  which  would 
'prostrate  with  Vandal  fury  every  long  established 
institution  and  usage,  the  contest  that  ever  has 
been  ajid  ever  must  be  maintained,  is  in  the 
highest  degree  salutary.  In  the  great  moral  and 
political  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
world,  especially  those  in  free  states — there  have 
been  for  the  most  part  three  classes  of  agents; 
those  who  could  see  no  good  in  any  thing  new, 
those  who  were  equally  blind  to  the  excellence  of 
all  that  was  old,  and  those  who  have  occupied  a 
tniddle  ground,  giving  to  the  arguments  of  each 


^8     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Illustrated  by  the  History  of  various  Nation?. 

of  the  other  parties  their  just  weight,  and  willing 
to  retain  the  gold  and  reject  the  dross  in  recon- 
structing any  of  the  elements  of  society. 

This,  it  is  needless  to  inform  you,  was  eminent- 
ly characteristic  of  political  parties  in  the  several 
states  of  ancient  Greece,  and  in  the  Roman  Com- 
monwealth.    The  history  of  politics  in  the  repub- 
lics of  modern  Italy,  in  France  and  England,  and 
in  various  other  countries  both  of  Europe  and 
America,  affords  many  and  striking  examples  of 
the  same  tendency  in  human  nature.     It  is  well 
that  it  is  so.     This,  like  all  the  other  moral  laws 
of  the  Creator,  bears  the  impress  of  matchless  wis- 
dom and  benevolence.    For,  while  the  obstinately 
prejudiced  and  the  madly  revolutionary  are  en- 
gaged  in   hot  strife  with   each   other,  the  one 
party  for  the  old  as  it  is,  the  other  for  the  substitu- 
tion of  something  entirely  new,  the  mass  of  the 
people,  almost  always  averse  to  violent  innova- 
tions, but  roused  by  the  fierce  din  with  which 
they  are  assailed,  are  incited  to  inquire,  "What  is 
the  occasion   of   all   this  turmoil?     Why  such 
fierce  contention?     What  abuses  are  to  be  cor- 
rected? What  institutions  modified?  What  changes 
wrought?"   The  representative  intelligence  of  this 
class,  bringing  to  the  examination  of  these  ques- 
tions broader  views  and  cooler  feelings,  is  ena- 
bled to  discriminate  and  weigh  the  arguments  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     39 

Precipitancy  to  be  avoided. 

each  party,  and,  by  the  adoption  of  suitable  mea- 
sures, to  effect  such  gradual  improvements  as  the 
exigencies  of  ihe  times  seem  either  to  require  or 
justify. 

There  is  not,  I  am  aware,  so  much  danger  of 
excess  in  organizing  a  system  of  common  schools, 
and  therefore  not  so  much  necessity  for  incul- 
cating moderation  in  reference  to  it,  as  there  would 
be  with  respect  to  some  other  measures ;  still  it  is 
well  to  understand  and  avoid  the  evils  of  precipi- 
tancy. Bad  as  the  systems  adopted  in  many  of 
the  states  confessedly  are,  and  inadequate,  as  all 
are  admitted  to  be,  they  may  be  made  much  worse 
by  hasty  and  ill-judged  legislation.  Time, — much 
time,  is  necessary  both  for  making  the  proper  in- 
vestigations as  to  the  best  plans  of  operation,  and 
for  preparing  the  minds  of  the  people  for  all  those 
ameliorations,  which  are  demanded  by  the  spirit 
of  the  age,  and  the  circumstances  of  our  country. 
Changes,  good  in  themselves,  are,  when  too  sud- 
denly effected,  frequently  attended  with  conse- 
quences more  or  less  to  be  deplored.  Festina 
knte,  the  celebrated  motto  of  Augustus  Caesar, 
is  on  the  whole  a  sound  maxim  in  reference  to  any 
great  undertaking,  though  capable  of  being  abused 
to  cloak  indifference,  or  to  justify  inaction. 

With  these  observations  by  way  of  introduc- 
tion, I  proceed  to  present  some  views,  not  alto. 
3* 


30     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Popular  Education  a  public  Duty. 

gether,  it  is  hoped,  inappropriate  at  the  present 
time,  on  several  points  which  seem  to  require  con- 
sideration in  organising  a  general  system  of  popu- 
lar education. 

The  first  topic  to  which  I  ask  your  attention,  and 
that  of  the  public,  is  the  duty  of  making  ^adequate 
provision  by  law  for  the  thorough  instruction  of 
all  the  children  in  the  community.  From  a  variety 
of  arguments  that  might  be  urged  in  support  of 
this  position,  I  shall  select  only  three,  which  seem 
to  me  sufficient  to  establish  it  to  the  satisfaction  of 
every  candid  mind.  Popular  education  is  neces- 
sary, and  therefore  it  is  the  duty  of  the  several 
states  to  provide  for  it;  first,  because  of  its  influ- 
ence on  national  and  individual  character  and  hap- 
piness ;  secondly,  because  of  its  bearing  on  the 
pecuniary  interests  of  the  country ;  and  thirdly, 
because  of  its  connexion  with  the  purity  and  per- 
petuity of  our  civil  institutions. 

That  education,  based  on  Christianity,  is  adapted 
to  elevate  the  character  and  promote  the  happi- 
ness of  its  possessors,  is  a  position  which  it  cannot 
require  any  laboured  argument  to  prove,  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  to  the  citizens  of  the  United 
States.  It  is  a  truth  attested  by  universal  expe- 
rience, and  capable  of  complete  demonstration. 
Were  I  addressing  a  popular  assembly  on  this  sub- 
ject, I  would  say  to  them, — Cast  your  eyes  abroad 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.      31 

Its  Influence  on  National  Character  and  Happiness. 

on  the  world ;  consult  time  past  and  present ;  com- 
pare nations,  families,  and  individuals  respectively 
with  each  other ; — your  survey  will  lead  you  to 
this  irresistible  conclusion,  that  education,  impreg- 
nated with  the  principles  of  true  religion,  is  every 
where  the  great  promoter  of  whatsoever  things 
are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever 
things  are  pure,  lovely,  and  of  good  report ;  that 
it  is  the  parent  of  virtue,  industry,  and  order ;  that 
it  is  essential  to  the  full  benefits  of  gospel  preach- 
ing ;  and  that  the  want  of  it  is  the  principal  cause 
of  the  extreme  profligacy,  improvidence,  and 
misery,  which  are  so  prevalent  among  the  labour- 
ing classes  in  many  countries. 

A  comparison  between  the  Irish  and  Scottish 
peasantry  would  of  itself  be  sufficient  to  establish 
this  general  fact.  Among  the  former  we  behold 
little  else  than  sloth,  destitution,  and  crime ;  among 
the  latter,  even  those  who  are  in  the  worst  com- 
parative circumstances,  a  degree  of  comfort,  the 
fruit  of  industry  and  order,  is  every  where  conspi- 
cuous. To  what  is  this  difference  to  be  ascribed? 
The  Irish  possess  as  vigorous  constitutions,  and 
are  as  capable  of  enduring  hard  labour,  as  the 
Scotch.  In  the  two  great  physical  elements  of 
prosperity,  soil  and  climate,  Ireland  has  a  clear 
and  decided  advantage  over  Scotland.  The  differ- 
ence, then,  making  every  allowance  which  truth 


32  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Comparison  between  the  Scotch  and  Irish. 

and  candour  can  require  for  the  evils  of  misgovern- 
ment  in  the  former  country,  is  owing  to  the  preva- 
lence of  intellectual  and  moral  culture  in  the  one 
case,  and  the  want  of  it  in  the  other.  No  other 
cause  can  be  named,  adequate  to  the  production  of 
the  effect ;  and  consequently  to  assign  any  other 
would  be,  as  you,  gentlemen,  well  know,  to  violate 
one  of  the  first  principles  of  philosophy.  In  Ire- 
land the  education  of  the  poor  is  deplorably 
neglected  ;  few  of  them  can  either  read  or  write  ; 
and  almost  all  are  ignorant  of  nearly  every  thing 
that  it  most  befits  a  rational  and  accountable  crea- 
ture to  understand.  In  Scotland  an  order  of  things 
exists  essentially  different.  It  is  rare  to  meet  with 
a  person  there  who  has  not  some  education; 
schools  exist  in  every  parish ;  and  the  means  of 
knowledge  are  brought  within  the  reach  of  the 
lowest  classes.  The  result,  in  each  case,  is  such 
as  has  been  already  described  ;  and  such  as  must 
always  take  place  under  like  circumstances. 

The  most  illustrious  example,  with  which  I  am 
acquainted,  of  the  elevating  and  humanizing  influ- 
ence of  Christian  education  on  communities,  is 
exhibited  in  the  history  of  those  mountain  parishes 
in  the  Ban  de  la  Roche  under  the  pastoral  care  of 
the  celebrated  Oberlin — a  name  embalmed  in 
every  philanthropic  and  pious  heart.  He  who 
attentively  reads  the  simple  narrative  of  the  life 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  33 


Oberlin— The  Ban  de  la  Roche. 


and  labours  of  that  great  and  good  man,  will  gain 
more  true  instruction  than  he  would  by  wading 
through  whole  folios  of  theology,  metaphysics,  and 
political  economy.  He  will  there  behold  a  trans- 
formation, as  wonderful  as  the  scenes  of  an  East- 
ern romance,  wrought,  within  the  brief  period  of 
a  few  years,  in  the  character  and  condition  of  a 
whole  community.  He  will  see  it  rescued  from 
the  accumulated  evils  of  ignorance,  vice,  and  po- 
verty, and  raised  to  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  bless- 
ings of  knowledge,  virtue,  and  competence.  He 
will  perceive  industry,  order,  contentment,  and  all 
the  social  and  moral  virtues,  enthroned  in  the 
heart  and  shining  in  the  life,  where  but  a  few 
years  before  the  whole  social  fabric  was  the  sport 
and  prey  of  every  capricious  and  malignant  pas- 
sion. He  will  behold,  in  short,  a  desolate  wilder- 
ness, over  which  a  gloom  like  the  pall  of  death 
had  brooded  for  centuries,  suddenly  converted  into 
the  garden  of  the  Lord,  with  the  freshness  of  Eden 
covering  the  scene,  and  the  smile  of  heaven  gilding 
the  prospect.  He  will  learn  also  the  moral  of  the 
whole  story — the  means  by  which  this  amazing 
revolution  was  effected.  And  what  were  they? 
Learning  and  Religion — those  guardian  angels 
that  watch,  with  spirits  ever  wakeful  and  benig- 
nant, over  the  happiness  of  mortals.  Christian 
Education  was  the  sole  source  of  the  change,  and 
of  all  the  blessings  which  followed  in  its  train. 


34  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Influence  of  Education  on  Families. 

Education  is  not  less  benign  in  its  influence  on 
families  than  on  communities.  Few  contrasts  can 
be  imagined  stronger  than  that  which  exists 
between  an  enlightened  and  well  ordered  Christian 
family,  and  one  enveloped  in  the  dank  and  misty 
and  putrid  atmosphere  of  ignorance ;  between  the 
dignity,  refinement,  and  happiness,  which  mark 
the  domestic  relations  on  the  one  side,  and  the  bru- 
tal passions  and  haggard  wretchedness,  that  reign 
with  undisputed  and  terrific  sway  on  the  other. 
Foster,  in  his  excellent  Essay  on  the  Evils  of  Popu- 
lar Ignorance,  has  sketched,  with  his  usual  power, 
an  appalling  picture  of  the  ferocity  and  misery  of 
a  family  destitute  of  religious  and  mental  culture. 
After  describing  such  a  family — the  menaces  and 
imprecations  of  the  parents,  and  their  want  of  re- 
sources for  engaging  and  occupying,  for  amusing 
and  instructing,  the  younger  minds ;  and  the  strife, 
rudeness,  and  insubordination  of  the  children— he 
adds : — 

"  Now,  imagine  a  week,  month,  or  year,  of  the 
intercourse  in  such  a  domestic  society,  the  course 
of  talk,  the  mutual  manners,  and  the  progress  of 
mind  and  character;  where  there  is  a  sense  of 
drudgery  approaching  to  that  of  slavery,  in  the 
unrelenting  necessity  of  labour,  where  there  is 
none  of  the  interest  of  imparting  knowledge  or  re- 
ceiving it,  or  of  reciprocating  knowledge  that  has 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     35 

Picture  of  an  ignorant  Family. 

been  imparted  and  received;  where  there  is  not 
an  acre,  if  we  might  express  it  so,  of  intellectual 
space  around  them,  clear  of  the  thick  universal  fog 
of  ignorance,  where,  especially,  the  luminaries  of 
the  spiritual  heaven,  the  attributes  of  the  Almighty, 
the  grand  phenomenon  of  redeeming  mediation, 
the  solemn  realities  of  a  future  state  and  another 
world,  are  totally  obscured  in  that  shade ;  where 
the  conscience  and  the  discriminations  of  duty  are 
dull  and  indistinct,  from  the  youngest  to  the  oldest ; 
where  there  is  no  genuine  respect  felt  or  shown  on 
the  one  side,  nor  affection  unmixed  with  vulgar  petu- 
lance and  harshness,  expressed  perhaps  in  wicked 
imprecations  on  the  other;  where  a  mutual  coarse- 
ness of  manners  and  language  has  the  effect,  with- 
out their  being  aware  of  it  as  a  cause,  of  debasing 
their  worth  in  one  another's  esteem  all  round ;  and 
where,  notwithstanding  all,  they  absolutely  must 
pass  a  great  deal  of  time  together,  to  converse, 
and  to  display  their  dispositions  towards  one  ano- 
ther, and  exemplify  what  the  primary  relations  of 
life  are  reduced  to,  when  divested  of  all  that  is  to 
give  them  dignity,  endearment,  and  conducive- 
ness  to  the  highest  advantage  of  existence. 

"  Home  has  but  little  to  please  the  young  mem- 
bers of  such  a  family,  and  a  great  deal  to  make 
them  eager  to  escape  out  of  the  house ;  which  is 
also  a  welcome  riddance  to  the  elder  persons, 


36  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Strife  between  Parents  and  Children. 

when  it  is  not  in  neglect  or  refusal  to  perform  the 
ordinary  allotments  of  labour.  So  little  is  the  feel- 
ing of  a  peaceful  cordiality  created  among  them 
by  their  seeing  one  another  all  within  the  habita- 
tion, that,  not  unfrequently,  the  passer-by  may 
learn  the  fact  of  their  collective  number  being 
there,  from  the  sound  of  a  low  strife  of  mingled 
voices,  some  of  them  betraying  youth  replying  in 
anger  or  contempt,  to  maturity  or  age.  It  is 
wretched  to  see  how  early  this  liberty  is  boldly 
taken.  As  the  children  perceive  nothing  in  the 
minds  of  their  parents  that  should  awe  them  into 
deference,  the  most  important  difference  left  be- 
tween them  is  that  of  physical  strength.  The  chil- 
dren, if  of  hardy  disposition,  to  which  they  are 
perhaps  trained  in  battles  with  their  juvenile  rivals, 
soon  show  a  certain  degree  of  daring  against  this 
superior  strength.  And  as  the  difference  lessons, 
and  by  the  time  it  has  nearly  ceased,  what  is  so 
natural  as  that  they  should  assume  equality,  in 
manners,  and  in  following  their  own  will  ?  But 
equality  assumed  where  there  should  be  subordina- 
tion, inevitably  involves  contempt  toward  the  par- 
ty against  whose  claim  it  is  asserted. 

"  The  relative  condition  of  such  parents  as  they 
sink  into  old  age,  is  most  deplorable.  And  all  that 
has  preceded  leads,  by  a  natural  course,  to  that 
consequence  which  we  have  sometimes  beheld, 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  37 

Deplorable  Condition  of  such  Parents  in  old  Age. 

with  feelings  emphatically  gloomy, — the  almost 
perfect  indifference  with  which  the  descendants, 
and  a  few  other  near  relatives,  of  a  poor  old  man 
of  this  class,  could  consign  him  to  the  grave.  A 
human  being  was  gone  out  of  the  world,  a  being 
whom  they  had  been  near  all  their  lives,  some  of 
them  sustained  in  their  childhood  by  his  labours, 
and  yet  not  one  heart,  at  any  one  moment,  felt  the 
sentiment— I  have  lost  [a  father  or  a  friend.]  They 
never  could  regard  him  with  respect,  and  their 
miserable  education  had  not  taught  them  humanity 
enough  to  regard  him  in  his  declining  days  as  an 
object  of  pity.  Some  decency  of  attention  was 
perhaps  shown  him,  or  perhaps  not,  in  his  last 
hours.  It  is  a  very  melancholy  spectacle  to  see  an 
ignorant,  thoughtless  father,  surrounded  by  his 
untaught  children,  at  the  sight  of  whom  our 
thought  thus  silently  accosts  him:  The  event 
which  will  take  you  finally  from  among  them,  per- 
haps after  forty  or  fifty  years  of  intercourse  with 
them,  will  leave  no  more  impression  on  their  affec- 
tions, than  the  cutting  down  of  a  decayed  old  tree 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  your  habitation." 

This,  it  must  be  confessed,  is  a  high-wrought 
and  most  melancholy  picture,  but  who  shall  say 
that  it  is  exaggerated  ?  Owing  to  the  general  dif- 
fusion among  us  of  some  degree  of  intellectual 
cultivation  and  religious  knowledge  and  influence, 
4 


38     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Originals  not  wanting  among  us. 

originals  are  not,  indeed,  as  common  in  this  coun- 
try as  in  some  others ;  but  the  memory  of  many 
persons  will  doubtless  recall  scenes  and  histories, 
which  might  be  truly  described  or  narrated  in  the 
words  of  the  preceding  extracts.  And  just  in 
proportion  as  the  lights  of  knowledge  and  the  in- 
fluences of  religion  are  wanting  in  families,  in  the 
same  proportion  will  their  domestic  intercourse 
approach  towards  a  realization  of  that  dreadful 
representation  just  presented,  and  sketched  by  a 
sagacious  observer  of  mankind,  as  a  faithful  pic- 
ture of  the  effect  of  ignorance  on  the  family  circle. 

The  converse  of  this  proposition  is  also  unques- 
tionably true.  Christian  education,  in  proportion 
as  it  sheds  its  genial  influence  on  that  interesting 
class  of  communities  now  under  consideration, 
will  always  have  the  effect  to  exalt,  refine,  and 
hallow  the  domestic  relations ;  to  convert  them  into 
unfailing  sources  of  the  purest  enjoyment;  and  to 
render  them  conducive  to  the  highest  end  of  our 
being. 

Personal  dignity  of  character  and  individual 
happiness  are  not  promoted  in  a  less  degree  by 
sound  education,  than  national  and  social  elevation 
and  felicity.  Silly  atheistical  ranters,  it  is  true,  are 
occasionally  to  be  met  with,  who,  in  their  impious 
ravings,  elevate  savage  over  civilized  life;  but  none 
but  a  fool,  a  knave,  or  a  madman,  would  contend 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  39 

Influence  of  Education  on  Individuals. 

that  the  barbarian  warrior  numbering  his  scalps, 
or  the  ignorant  drone  in  civilized  countries,  whose 
pleasures  are  justly  described  by  Paley  as  scarcely 
superior  to  those  of  the  oyster,  are  to  be  placed  on 
the  same  level  in  these  respects  with  Newton  in- 
vestigating the  laws  that  bind  the  planets  in  their 
orbits ;  with  Locke,  affixing  their  just  limits  to  the 
powers  of  the  human  mind;  with  Franklin,  teach- 
ing the  lightning  to  obey  his  will;  with  Milton, 
soaring  to  the  loftiest  regions  of  poetry  ;  or  with 
Wilberforce,  shaking  the  British  senate  with  his 
eloquence. 

These,  it  is  granted,  are  extreme  cases ;  never- 
theless they  are  strictly  pertinent  to  the  argument. 
But  let  us  descend  to  the  lower  walks  of  life,  and 
see  how  we  shall  find  it  there.  What  is  it  that 
constitutes  the  real  man  ?  and  where  is  the  seat  of 
happiness,  properly  so  called?  Is  it  this  corporeal 
frame,  which  is  destined  to  "  perish  in  the  using?" 
or  is  it  the  ethereal  essence  that  dwells  within  it — 
this  spirit,  formed  for  thought,  knowledge,  and  im- 
mortality ?  You,  gentlemen,  and  all  other  intelli- 
gent men,  will,  with  united  voice,  answer — The 
latter — and  this  response  does  but  echo  a  senti- 
ment every  where  inscribed  on  the  pages  of  the 
sacred  record. 

Happiness  cannot  be  predicated  of  the  senses; 
it  is  of  too  ethereal  a  nature  to  dwell  in  any  but  a 
spiritual  substance.  But  the  mass  of  mankind 


40     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Elevates  the  Pleasures  of  the  labouring  Classes. 

cannot  devote  themselves  to  literary  and  scientific 
pursuits.  Bodily  labour  is  the  inheritance  of  sin- 
We  are  not  merely  to  eat  bread,  but  we  are  to  eat 
it  in  the  "  sweat  of  our  brow ;"  we  may  enjoy  the 
earth  indeed,  but  only  on  the  condition  of  first 
"  subduing  it."  But  the  benevolent  Author  of  our 
being,  though  justice  required  the  execution  of  the 
threatened  curse,  has  so  arranged  the  order  of 
things,  that  most  manual  employments  do  not  de- 
mand the  whole  attention  of  those  engaged  in 
them ;  they  leave  a  considerable  portion  of  time, 
even  during  the  hours  of  labour,  when  the  thoughts 
can  be  usefully,  worthily,  and  delightfully  employ- 
ed on  other  subjects. 

This  brings  us  to  the  point  at  which  I  have  been 
aiming.  Which  of  two  labouring  men  has  the  ad- 
vantage over  the  other  in  point  of  real  dignity  and 
enjoyment — he  whose  intellect,  in  the  strong  lan- 
guage of  the  writer  above  quoted,  "  suffers  a  dull 
absorption,  subsides  into  the  mere  physical  nature, 
is  sunk  and  sleeping  in  the  animal  warmth  and 
functions,  and  lulled  and  rocked,  as  it  were,  in  its 
lethargy,  by  the  bodily  movements  in  the  works 
which  it  is  not  necessary  for  it  to  keep  habitually 
awake  to  direct  ?'  Or  he  whose  mind  is  in  some 
degree  furnished  with  a  knowledge  of  past  and 
contemporary  occurrences,  with  examples  of  ele- 
vated virtue  from  sacred  and  profane  history,  and 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     41 

Affords  a  Resource  for  their  leisure  Hours. 

with  an  acquaintance  with  some  of  the  powers  of 
nature,  and  the  causes  of  those  physical  phenome- 
na which  every  where  surround  him,  and  which 
are  constantly  beheld  by  the  ignorant  herd  without 
emotion  or  instruction,  and  regarded  as  merely 
common  though  unintelligible  facts  ?  No  person 
of  ordinary  intelligence  can  hesitate  in  deciding 
this  point.  The  latter  is  incomparably  superior 
to  the  former  in  the  respects  here  indicated. 
While  his  hands  are  mechanically  employed  on 
their  wonted  tasks,  his  thoughts  can  feed  upon  the 
knowledge  accumulated  within.  He  can  thence 
extract  sweet  and  elevating  reflections  to  beguile 
the  toilsome  hours,  if  he  is  alone;  or  interesting 
anecdotes  and  useful  facts,  if  others  are  with  him, 
to  enliven  the  labours  of  the  day,  and  to  amuse  or 
instruct  those  of  his  companions  whose  minds  are 
less  cultivated  than  his  own. 

The  advantage  he  possesses  is  still  greater  during 
those  intervals  of  labour  which  occur  through  the 
week,  and  that  longer  interval  afforded  by  the 
Christian  Sabbath.  During  these  periods,  persons 
without  any  of  the  resources  of  knowledge,  if  they 
are  of  a  phlegmatic  temperament,  generally  pass 
the  time  in  utter  inanity ;  either  sleeping  it  off 
their  hands,  or  sunk  into  a  listless  unreflecting  dul- 
ness,  in  which  their  minds  are  far  less  active  than 
in  actual  sleep :  or,  if  they  are  of  a  more  lively 
4* 


42     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Confers  a  certain  Nobility  of  Character. 

turn,  they  betake  themselves  to  all  sorts  of  coarse 
and  vulgar  merriment,  the  profane  scofT,  the  ribald 
jest,  the  blackguard  repartee ;  or  they  take  refuge 
in  those  gross  sensual  pleasures,  which  are  more 
hurtful  both  to  themselves  and  others,  than  utter 
vacuity  of  thought  and  emotion.  Not  so  with  men 
in  whom  the  seeds  of  knowledge  and  religion 
were  sown,  and  took  root  in  early  childhood,  gra- 
dually shooting  up  into  plants,  which  have  since 
been  constantly  expanding  and  unfolding  their 
beauties  to  the  sun,  and  whose  fruit  now  appears 
in  all  its  fair  proportions,  engaging  colours,  and 
mellow  ripeness.  Reading,  meditation,  innocent 
amusements,  and  elevating  social  pleasures,  fill  up 
the  leisure  hours  of  such  men ;  and  the  Sabbath, 
— that  distinctive  and  glorious  feature  in  the  Chris- 
tian economy, — is  devoted  to  occupations,  alike 
profitable  to  themselves  and  pleasing  to  its  Author. 
Education,  conducted  upon  sound  and  compre- 
hensive principles,  confers  even  upon  the  poor  a 
quickness  of  conscience,  a  strength  of  principle,  a 
liveliness  of  sympathy,  an  erectness,  independence, 
and,  as  it  were,  nobility  of  character,  which  place 
them  on  an  eminence,  whence  they  can  look  down 
on  the  misery  and  degradation  of  the  multitudes 
that  throng  the  cheerless  vales  of  ignorance  be- 
low. They  are  often  elevated  to  a  region  far 
above  the  clouds  and  storms,  which  darken  the 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     43 

Milton's  Picture  of  the  Seraph  Abdiel. 

horizon,  and  oppress  the  hearts  of  the  less  intelli- 
gent and  virtuous  of  their  fellow-creatures.  They 
stand  in  a  relation  to  these  somewhat  analogous 
to  the  position  occupied  by  the  loyal  Seraph  in  re- 
ference to  the  recreant  crew  of  angels,  by  whom 
he  was  surrounded  and  solicited  to  rebellion.  His 
glorious  independence,  courage,  and  strength  and 
elevation  of  purpose,  are  portrayed  in  the  follow- 
ing beautiful  lines  from  Paradise  Lost. 

"  So  spake  the  Seraph  Abdiel,  faithful  found 
Among  the  faithless,  faithful  only  he ; 
Among  innumerable  false,  unmoved, 
Unshaken,  unsedueed,  unterrified, 
His  loyalty  he  kept,  his  love,  his  zeal ; 
Nor  number  nor  example  with  him  wrought 
To  swerve  from  truth,  or  change  his  constant  mind, 
Though  single.  From  amidst  them  forth  he  passed, 
Lqng  way  through  hostile  scorn,  which  he  sustained 
Superior,  nor  of  violence  feared  aught; 
And,  with  retorted  scorn,  his  back  he  turned 
On  those  proud  towers  to  swift  destruction  doomed." 

The  advantages  of  education  are  thus  forcibly 
summed  up  and  set  forth  by  the  eloquent  Robert 
Hall,  in  his  sermon  on  that  subject.  "Know- 
ledge," says  he,  "  expands  the  mind,  exalts  the  fa- 
culties, refines  the  taste  of  pleasure,  and  opens 
numerous  sources  of  intellectual  enjoyment.  By 
means  of  it  we  become  less  dependent  for  satisfac- 


44     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Pleasure  annexed  to  the  pursuit  of  Truth. 

tion  on  the  sensitive  appetites,  the  gross  pleasures 
of  sense  are  more  easily  despised,  and  we  are 
made  to  feel  the  superiority  of  the  spiritual  to  the 
material  part  of  our  nature.  Instead  of  being  con- 
tinually solicited  by  the  influence  and  irritation  of 
sensible  objects,  the  mind  can  retire  within  her- 
self, and  expatiate  in  the  cool  and  quiet  walks  of 
contemplation.  The  Author  of  Nature  has  wisely 
annexed  a  pleasure  to  the  exercise  of  our  active 
powers,  especially  to  the  pursuit  of  truth,  which, 
if  it  be  in  some  instances  less  intense,  is  far  more 
durable  than  the  gratifications  of  sense,  and  is  on 
that  account,  to  say  nothing  of  its  other  proper- 
ties, incomparably  more  valuable.  It  may  be  re- 
peated without  satiety,  and  pleases  afresh  on  every 
reflection  upon  it.  These  are  self-created  satis- 
factions, always  within  our  reach,  not  dependent 
upon  events,  and  not  requiring  a  peculiar  combi- 
nation of  circumstances  to  produce  or  maintain 
them.  Let  the  mind  but  retain  its  proper  func- 
tions, and  they  spring  up  spontaneously,  unsolicit- 
ed, unborrowed,  and  unbought." 

"  Man,  ignorant  and  uncivilized,  is  a  ferocious, 
sensual,  and  superstitious  savage.  The  external 
world  affords  some  enjoyment  to  his  animal  feel- 
ings, but  it  confounds  his  moral  and  intellectual 
faculties.  External  nature  exhibits  to  his  mind  a 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     45 

Contrast  between  savage  and  civilized  Man. 

mighty  chaos  of  events,  and  a  dread  display  of 
power.  The  chain  of  causation  appears  too  intri- 
cate to  be  unravelled,  and  the  power  too  stupen- 
dous to  be  controlled.  Order  and  beauty,  indeed, 
occasionally  gleam  forth  to  his  eye,  from  detached 
portions  of  creation,  and  seem  to  promise  happi- 
ness and  joy ;  but,  more  frequently,  clouds  and 
darkness  brood  over  the  scene,  and  disappoint 
his  fondest  expectations.  Evil  seems  so  mixed 
up  with  good,  that  he  regards  it  either  as  its  direct 
product,  or  its  inseparable  accompaniment.  Na- 
ture is  never  contemplated  with  a  clear  percep- 
tion of  its  adaptation  to  the  purpose  of  promoting 
the  true  enjoyment  of  man,  or  with  a  well-founded 
confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  its 
Author.  Man,  when  civilized  and  illuminated  by 
knowledge,  on  the  other  hand,  discovers  in  the  ob- 
jects and  occurrences  around  him  a  scheme  beau- 
tifully arranged  for  the  gratification  of  his  whole 
powers,  animal,  moral,  and  intellectual;  he  recog- 
nises in  himself  the  intelligent  and  accountable 
subject  of  an  all-bountiful  Creator,  and  in  joy  and 
gladness  desires  to  study  the  Creator's  works,  to 
ascertain  his  laws,  and  to  yield  to  them  a  steady 
and  a  willing  obedience.  Without  undervaluing 
the  pleasures  of  his  animal  nature,  he  tastes  the 
higher,  more  refined,  and  more  enduring  delights 
of  his  moral  and  intellectual  capacities,  and  he 


46     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Tins  vantage-ground  may  be  surrendered. 

then  calls  aloud  for  education  as  indispensable  to 
the  full  enjoyment  of  his  rational  powers."* 

These  are  the  grounds  on  which  the  advocates 
of  this  cause  have  usually  and  mainly  rested  its 
claims.  And  they  are  sufficient  to  sustain  it  tri- 
umphantly against  all  the  assaults  of  its  enemies. 
But  the  tendency  of  education  to  increase  the  hap- 
piness of  society,  and  to  elevate  man  to  his  proper 
dignity  by  causing  the  intellect  and  the  moral 
feelings  to  predominate  over  the  senses,  is  a  van- 
tage-ground which  may  be  surrendered ;  and  we 
may  boldly  meet  the  opposers  of  universal  educa- 
tion on  the  broad  position,  that,  so  far  as  the  ac- 
quisition of  individual  and  national  wealth  is  con- 
cerned, it  is  man's  most  efficient  ally.  The  only 
objection  that  can  be  urged  with  any  show  of 
reason  against  the  most  thorough  national  educa- 
tion, is  its  expensiveness.  Now,  if  it  can  be 
shown  that  such  a  liberal  provision  as  will  secure 
the  benefits  of  sound  instruction  to  all  the  people, 
is  a  nation's  best  economy,  "  we  not  only" — to 
borrow  the  strong  language  of  President  Young — 
"  plant  our  foot  on  the  objection  and  crush  it  to 
atoms,  but  we  construct  on  its  very  ruins  the 
strongest  argument  in  behalf  of  our  system — 
an  argument  directed  to  the  self-interest  of  the 

*  Combe  on  Education, 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  47 

Universal  Education  a  Pecuniary  Gain. 

community — an  argument  that  appeals  to  one  of 
the  ruling  passions  of  our  nature,  the  love  of 
wealth."* 

Can  the  objection  be  shown  to  be  groundless  1 
We  meet  it  with  a  counter  proposition,  which,  if 
it  can  be  maintained,  necessarily  refutes  it.  Uni- 
versal education — meaning  thereby  something 
more  than  the  mere  elements  of  knowledge — the 
sound,  wise,  thorough  education  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, so  far  from  being  expensive,  is  actually  a 
gain,  even  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  to  any 
country  where  it  is  enjoyed. 

Let  us  very  briefly  look  at  this  position  in  a  few 
of  its  various  aspects.  An  undeniable  connexion 
exists  between  the  intelligence  of  a  nation  and  its 
laws.  There  is  a  general  fund  of  talent  and  in- 
formation from  which  the  accomplishments  even 
of  statesmen  themselves  are  ultimately  derived. 
Nor  is  the  relation  between  a  nation's  legislation 


*  The  reader  will  observe  that  a  part  of  this  sentence  is  quoted 
from  President  Young,  of  Centre  College,  Ky.  It  is  taken  from 
an  address,  the  object  of  which  is  to  show  that  education  is  a  pe- 
cuniary gain  to  a  country.  The  author  freely  acknowledges 
his  indebtedness  to  this  enlightened  friend  and  able  advocate  of 
the  cause,  for  some  of  the  topics  relied  upon  under  this  head, 
and  for  several  interesting  and  valuable  facts  and  suggestions ; 
though  these  bear  but  a  small  proportion  to  the  whole  of  what  he 
has  advanced  on  this  subject. 


48     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Its  Effect  on  Legislation. 

and  its  wealth  less  significant  or  obvious.  Wise 
laws,  by  encouraging  industry,  quickening  inge- 
nuity, and  securing  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  their 
fruits,  develope  the  resources  of  a  country,  and 
swell  the  tide  of  national  prosperity  and  wealth. 
These  are  truths  so  clear  that  he  that  runs  may 
read.  They  are  derived  from  the  plainest  princi- 
ples of  reason,  and  confirmed  by  the  voice  of  all 
history. 

Universal  education,  then,  is  a  pecuniary  advan- 
tage to  a  nation,  in  the  first  place,  by  its  effect  on 
legislation.  It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  proofs 
and  illustrations  of  this  most  interesting  truth. 
The  argument  is  broad  enough  to  fill  a  volume. 
The  experience  of  all  ages  and  nations  might  be 
made  tributary  in  the  gathering  of  materials  for 
its  construction.  Who  can  calculate  the  riches 
often  derived  to  a  country  from  a  judicious  course 
of  policy  in  relation  to  any  one  important  interest, 
or  even  from  the  operation  of  a  single  wise  law  ? 
In  illustration  of  the  former,  take  those  extended 
systems  of  internal  improvement,  which  have  shed 
so  much  lustre  on  many  of  our  states,  and  more 
than  doubled  their  wealth.  As  an  example  of  the 
latter,  look  at  the  law  which  secures  to  the  author 
of  any  useful  invention  the  pecuniary  benefit  re- 
sulting from  the  sale  of  the  article  invented.  To 
what  an  amazing  extent  has  it  stimulated  human 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     49 

Character  of  the  Laws  depends  on  the  Intelligence  of  the  People. 

ingenuity,  and  urged  it  on  in  the  career  of  inven- 
tion and  discovery !  And  what  arithmetic  can 
calculate,  what  scale  can  measure,  the  activity 
and  enterprize  it  has  diffused  through  the  commu- 
nity, the  degree  in  which  it  has  augmented  the 
productive  labour  of  the  country,  and  the  untold 
riches  it  has  in  this  way  poured  into  the  lap  of  the 
nation  ? 

This  branch  of  the  subject  may  be  viewed  in 
another  aspect.  We  may  select  any  period  of 
the  world — antiquity,  the  middle  ages,  or  modern 
times — and  compare  the  nations  then  existing 
with  each  other.  We  may  compare,  for  exam- 
ple, in  detail,  England  with  France,  France  with 
Spain,  Spain  with  Morocco,  and  Morocco  itself 
with  the  kingdoms  of  interior  Africa.  We  may 
institute  a  like  process  in  reference  to  the  same 
country  at  different  periods  of  its  history ;  as  to 
Italy,  for  instance,  before  and  after  what  is  com- 
monly termed  the  revival  of  learning.  We  may 
make  our  search  into  these  matters  as  broad  and 
as  deep  as  we  please;  and  what  will  be  the  result? 
We  shall  find,  invariably,  that  those  nations  where 
the  people  have  been  best  educated,  have  also 
been  most  distinguished  for  the  wisdom  of  their 
laws,  and  have  enjoyed  a  greater  degree  of  pros- 
perity, and  reached  a  higher  pitch  of  wealth  than 
the  others.  It  would  be  no  labour  for  giants  to 
5 


50  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Testimony  of  History  on  this  Point  universally  in  its  Favour. 

pile  Ossa  upon  Pelion,  and  to  place  them  both  on 
the  top  of  Olympus,  in  the  shape  of  proofs.  But 
to  do  this  would  not  harmonize  with  that  cha- 
racter of  generality  to  which  the  plan  I  have  pro- 
posed to  myself  renders  it  necessary  for  me  to 
adhere  throughout  these  brief  "  Hints."  I  cannot, 
therefore,  now  stop  to  verify  the  assertion  just 
made ;  but  I  make  my  appeal  with  confidence  to 
history.  Let  my  readers  search  it  for  themselves; 
and  if  they  do  not  find  that  national  prosperity 
and  riches  follow  in  the  wake  of  education,  as 
naturally  as  water  seeks  its  level,  or  vapour  as- 
cends toward  heaven,  then  have  I  read  and  stu- 
died in  vain,  and  there  is  no  one  conclusion  at 
which  I  have  arrived,  that  I  can  rely  upon  with 
any  confidence.  But  I  am  not — I  cannot  be  mis- 
taken. I  would  say,  without  hesitation,  to  any 
skeptic  on  this  point — Carry  your  researches  in 
reference  to  it  in  whatever  direction,  and  push 
them  to  whatever  extent  you  will,  the  result  can- 
not but  be  a  conviction,  not  to  be  shaken  by  the 
ingenuity  of  sophistry  or  the  thunder  of  declama- 
tion, that  the  connection  is  not  more  inseparable 
between  light  and  the  sun,  between  the  shadow 
and  its  object,  than  that  which  exists,  and  ever 
must  exist,  between  national  prosperity  and  good 
laws,  and  between  wise  legislation  and  general 
intelligence. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  51 

Ignorance  in  the  Ban  tie  la  Roche  on  Oberlin's  arrival. 

Not  to  pass  over  this  point,  without  one  illus- 
tration of  it,  I  would  again  call  your  attention 
to  the  scene  of  Oberlin's  labours;  a  reference 
which  will  at  the  same  time  illustrate  another 
way  in  which  education  is  a  pecuniary  gain,  viz. 
by  increasing  the  capacity  of  each  individual  in 
the  community,  and  enabling  him  to  turn  his  powers 
to  the  best  account.  That  extraordinary  man  was 
the  patriarch  of  his  people.  He  was  their  lawgiver, 
at  least  by  the  force  of  moral  suasion,  as  well  as 
their  pastor,  their  temporal  not  less  than  their  spiri- 
tual guide.  Notwithstanding  the  praise-worthy  la- 
bours of  his  excellent  predecessor,  Mr.  Stouber, 
he  found  them,  on  his  arrival  at  Waldebach,  still 
sunk  almost  to  the  lowest  level  in  the  scale  of  mo- 
ral and  civil  existence ;  scarcely,  indeed,  superior 
to  the  brutes  in  any  thing  but  their  susceptibi- 
lity of  improvement. 

Their  ignorance  was  such  that  their  very  school- 
masters could  scarcely  any  of  them  write,  and 
many  could  not  read  with  fluency;  and  as  to  a 
knowledge  of  any  thing  else,  they  were  nearly  as 
ignorant  as  so  many  statues.  Some  idea  of  their 
condition  may  be  formed  from  the  following  ex- 
tract from  Professor  Halsey's  "  Memoirs  of  Ober- 
lin."  "  They  were  alike  destitute  of  the  means  of 
mental  and  social  intercourse ;  they  spoke  a  rude 
patois,  resembling  the  Lorrain  dialect,  and  the 
medium  of  no  external  information;  they  were 


I 
52     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Its  Effects.    Oberlin's  Labours.    His  Wisdom  and  Zeal. 

entirely  secluded  from  the  neighbouring  districts 
by  the  want  of  roads;  the  husbandmen  were  des- 
titute of  the  most  necessary  agricultural  imple- 
ments, and  had  no  means  of  procuring  them ;  the 
provisions  derived  from  the  soil  were  not  sufficient 
to  maintain  even  a  scanty  population ;"  and  the 
soil  itself  had  so  far  deteriorated  by  use,  and  been 
so  often  swept  away  by  the  rain,  from  the  rocks 
it  covered,  that  fields  that  had  formerly  yielded 
from  120  to  150  bushels  of  potatoes,  produced,  in 
1767,  when  Oberlin  went  to  the  Ban  de  la  Roche, 
only  from  20  to  50  bushels.  These  various  causes, 
which,  however,  may  all  be  traced  to  ignorance 
as  their  fruitful  mother,  had  resulted  in  a  degree 
of  rudeness,  indigence,  and  misery,  absolutely  ap- 
palling, and  which  rendered  the  task  of  improving 
them  one  of  extreme  difficulty,  and  of  doubtful 
issue. 

Nothing,  however,  could  deter  this  excellent 
man  from  attempting  their  reform.  He  entered 
upon  his  work  with  the  zeal  of  an  apostle,  and  pro- 
secuted it  with  the  wisdom  of  a  sage,  and  the  pa- 
tience of  a  devotee.  He  not  only  instructed  them 
in  religion  and  science,  but  he  taught  them  agri- 
culture and  the  mechanic  arts,  and  indoctrinated 
them  practically  in  the  deepest  principles  of  politi- 
cal economy ;  and  he  had  the  happiness  of  be- 
holding, in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  the  most 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  53 

Remarkable  Change.    Great  Improvements.    Effect  on  Population. 

remarkable  change,  wrought  through  his  instru- 
mentality, that  has  perhaps  ever  occurred,  in  so 
brief  .a  space,  in  the  condition  of  an  entire  people. 
The  rude  mountaineers  had  exchanged  their 
wretched  hovels  for  neat  and  comfortable  cot- 
tages, and  their  scanty  rags  for  decent  apparel ; 
their  barren  rocks  had  been,  by  the  transporta- 
tion and  deposit  of  soil  upon  them,  converted 
into  fruitful  fields ;  manufactures  of  various  kinds 
had  been  established ;  a  small  but  prosperous  com- 
merce had  been  commenced;  roads,  of  which,  pro- 
perly speaking,  there  were  none  before,  had  been 
constructed — schools  established  and  perfected — 
an  Agricultural  Society  formed,  and  numerous  im- 
provements in  agriculture  introduced — and  vari- 
ous institutions  founded  which  mark  a  somewhat 
advanced  state  of  Christian  civilization ;  and  in- 
dustry, contentment,  and  plenty,  smiled  through- 
out-the  valley,  and  cheered  the  abode  of  every 
cottager. 

In  confirmation  of  these  statements,  I  ask  your 
attention  to  the  following  extract  from  Professor 
Halsey's  work : — 

"  Although  on  Oberlin's  first  arrival  in  the  Ban 
de  la  Roche,"  says  the  biographer,  "  the  popula- 
tion consisted  of  eighty  or  a  hundred  families  only, 
it  increased  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  to  five 
5* 


54  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Establishment  of  Manufactures.    Emoluments  thence  resulting. 

or  six  hundred,  constituting  altogether  three  thou- 
sand souls. 

"  To  provide  employment  for  so  great  a  num- 
ber of  persons,  even  supposing  that  five  hundred 
could  be  employed  during  four  or  five  months  in 
the  year  in  the  cultivation  of  land,  and  that  one 
third  were  infants  and  infirm  persons  incapable  of 
work,  became  a  most  important  object,  and  gave 
rise  to  the  introduction  of  various  branches  of  me- 
chanical industry,  adapted  to  local  circumstances; 
such,  for  instance,  as  straw-platting,  knitting,  and 
dyeing  with  the  plants  of  the  country.  The  former 
was  introduced  by  an  invalid  captain,  whose  gra- 
titude for  the  kind  reception  he  met  with,  on  so- 
liciting the  hospitality  of  the  generous  pastor  of 
Waldebach,  induced  him  to  proffer  his  services  in 
furthering  the  views  of  his  benefactor,  by  instruct- 
ing the, young  persons  in  an  art  with  which  neces- 
sity had  previously  made  him  acquainted. 

"  Besides  these  employments,  Oberlin  had  suc- 
ceeded in  introducing  the  spinning  of  cotton  by 
the  hand ;  and,  as  he  gave  prizes  to  the  best  spin- 
ners in  addition  to  their  wages,  this  branch  of  in- 
dustry for  a  time  succeeded  so  well  that  it  once 
gained  for  the  Ban  de  la  Roche,  in  the  course  of 
a  single  year,  and  from  one  manufacturer,  the 
emolument  of  thirty-two  thousand  francs — an 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     55 

Mr.  Legtand.    Silk-Riband  Manufactory  Established. 

enormous  sum,  considering  the  extreme  poverty 
and  indigence  to  which  the  inhabitants  had  just 
before  been  subjected.  Weaving  followed,  and, 
notwithstanding  numerous  obstacles,  promised  a 
large  increase  of  pecuniary  means ;  but,  unfortu- 
nately, the  introduction  of  machinery  at  Schir- 
meck  and  some  of  the  surrounding  villages,  pro- 
duced an  entire  revolution  about  the  time  the  pre- 
ceding letter  was  written,  deprived  them  of  this 
source  of  maintenance,  and  seemed  likely  to  re- 
duce them  to  their  former  state  of  necessity  and 

want. 

\ 

"  During  this  emergency,  Mr.  Legrand,  of  Basle, 
formerly  one  of  the  Directors  ofvthe  Helvetic  Re- 
public, attracted  to  the  Ban  de  la  Roche  by  regard 
and  affection  for  its  pastor,  and  the  simplicity,  in- 
telligence, and  integrity  of  his  parishioners,  per- 
suaded his  two  sons,  to  whom  he  had  relinquished 
business,  to  remove  their  manufactory  of  silk  ri- 
bands from  the  Department  of  the  Upper  Rhine 
to  Foudai,  believing  that  its  introduction  in  the 
Steinthal,  by  giving  employ  to  a  great  many 
hands,  would  become  not  only  an  advantage  but 
a  real  blessing  to  the  peasantry  there,  who  were 
at  this  period  sadly  in  need  of  work. 

"  In  the  course  of  a  short  time,  through  the  ex- 
ertions of  this  benevolent  and  highly  respectable 


56     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Its  Effect  on  Industry— on  Morals.    Intellectual  Culture. 

family,  industry  and  happiness  again  smiled  in  the 
valley : — for  whilst  the  introduction  of  the  silk 
manufactory  caused  trade  to  be  carried  on  with 
renewed  vigour,  and  gave  employment  to  several 
hundred  hands,  it  was  attended  with  another  great 
advantage,  too  seldom  experienced  in  great  manu- 
facturing districts ;  this  was  that  the  riband  looms 
were  distributed  about  the  houses  in  the  different 
villages,  so  that,  contrary  to  the  usual  custom,  the 
children  could  remain  whilst  at  work  under  the 
eye  of  their  parents,  instead  of  being  exposed  to 
the  contaminating  influence  of  bad  example. 

"  '  Conducted  by  Providence,'  says  Mr.  Le- 
grand,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  Baron  de  Ge- 
rando,  '  into  this  remote  valley,  I  was  the  more 
struck  with  the  sterility  of  its  soil,  its  straw- 
thatched  cottages,  the  apparent  poverty  of  its 
inhabitants,  and  the  simplicity  of  their  fare,  from 
the  contrast  which  these  external  appearances 
formed  to  the  cultivated  conversation  which  I 
enjoyed  with  almost  every  individual  I  met  with 
whilst  traversing  its  five  villages,  and  the  frank- 
ness and  naivete  of  the  children,  who  extended  to 
me  their  little  hands.  I  had  often  heard  of  Pastor 
Oberlin,  and  eagerly  sought  his  acquaintance.  He 
gave  me  the  most  hospitable  reception,  and  antici- 
pated my  desire  to  know  more  of  the  history  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     57 

/ 

Mr.  Legrand's  Testimony.    Triumph  of  Education. 

the  little  colony,  whose  manners  had  surprised  me 
so  greatly,  by  placing  in  my  hands  the  annals  of 
his  parish. 

"  '  It  is  now  four  years  since  I  removed  here 
with  my  family ;  and  the  pleasure  of  residing  in 
the  midst  of  a  people,  whose  manners  are  softened 
and  whose  minds  are  enlightened  by  the  instruc- 
tions which  they  receive  from  their  earliest  in- 
fancy, more  than  reconciles  us  to  the  privations 
which  we  must  necessarily  experience  in  a  valley 
separated  from  the  rest  of  the  world  by  a  chain  of 
surrounding  mountains.'  " 

Behold  in  the  simple  annals  of  that  remote  val- 
ley, the  triumph  of  good  education  !  Contemplate 
the  countless  blessings  and  the  sublime  hopes  it 
confers  upon  its  possessors;  blessings  which  make 
up  the  sum  of  human  happiness  below — hopes 
which  stretch  beyond  the  dark  and  troubled  hori- 
zon that  bounds  our  earthly  prospects,  and  are 
anchored  fast  to  the  Eternal  Throne !  Read, 
moreover,  this  important  lesson — important  cer- 
tainly to  the  political  economist — that  it  is  a  pecu- 
niary, as  well  as  moral  gain,  to  any  community 
where  it  is  enjoyed ! 

Universal  education  would,  in  the  next  place,  be 
a  pecuniary  gain  to  the  country,  by  diminishing 
expensive  amusements  and  checking  sensual  in- 
dulgences, I  refer  here  particularly  to  theatres, 


58  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 


Universal  Education  would  diminish  hurtful  Amusements  and  Indulgences. 


circuses,  gaming,  horse-racing,  licentiousness,  and 
intemperance.  It  must  be  admitted  that  we  have 
no  means  of  coming  accurately  at  the  facts  in  re- 
gard to  any  of  these  vices ;  and  with  respect  to 
that  which  has  most  p  rominently  occupied  public 
attention — intemperance — a  degree  of  exaggera- 
tion and  romancing  has  been  indulged  in,  which 
lias  done  real  injury  to  the  cause  it  was  designed 
to  promote.  Nevertheless,  it  will  not  be  questioned 
by  any  reflecting  man,  that,  if  we  could  come  at  the 
facts,  it  would  appear  that  each  of  these  gratifica- 
tions costs  the  nation  every  year  its  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars,  and  some  of  them  many  mil- 
lions; and  that,  if  the  whole  annual  expense  to  the 
United  States  of  amusements  either  frivolous  or 
hurtful,  and  of  indulgences  that  demoralise  and 
degrade  our  nature,  could  be  ascertained  and 
held  up  to  public  view,  the  amount  would  be  such 
as  to  astound  every  imagination,  and  appal  every 
heart. 

Although  we  cannot  fortify  our  argument  by  a 
long  array  of  well  digested  and  well  authenticated 
arithmetical  tables,  we  may  mention  a  single  fact, 
which  will  furnish  ground  for  a  reasonable  con- 
jecture as  to  the  expense  of  the  so  called  "  schools 
of  morality,"  in  the  city  of  New  York.  An  intel- 
ligent gentleman  made  the  circuit  of  the  theatrical 
establishments  in  that  city,  on  an  evening  of  no  ex- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     59 

Enormous  Expense  of  Theatres  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

traordinary  attractions,  and  during  the  severity  of 
the  pressure  on  the  money  market.  He  was  at 
some  pains  to  calculate  the  numbers  in  attendance, 
and  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  not  less  than 
four  thousand  five  hundred  dollars  had  been  re- 
ceived that  night  as  admission  money.  At  a  mo- 
derate calculation,  an  additional  five  hundred  dol- 
lars— probably  much  more — must  have  been 
expended  in  the  purchase  of  liquors  and  refresh- 
ments. If  we  take  this  as  an  average  night — and, 
considering  the  circumstances,  it  would  seem  not 
unfair  to  do  so — and  fix  the  number  of  nights  on 
which  the  theatres  are  open  at  two  hundred  a 
year,  the  annual  expense,  to  the  city  of  New  York 
alone,  of  these  seminaries  of  vice — these  recepta- 
cles and  propagators  of  corruption — these  gilded 
sepulchres  filled  with  the  bones  of  perished  virtue 
and  honour,  will  be  one  million  of  dollars;  an 
amount  greater  by  nearly  a  third  than  the  whole 
sum  paid  to  common  school  teachers,  in  the  entire 
State  of  New  York,  in  the  year  1834.  And  this  is 
but  one  item  in  the  long  and  fearful  account.  Add 
to  it  gaming,  horse-racing,  impurity,  intemperance, 
and  a  host  of  kindred  gratifications,  and  the  aggre- 
gate expense  of  them  in  that  city  alone  would,  it 
can  scarcely  be  doubted,  exceed  in  amount  all  that 
is  expended  on  common  schools  in  the  whole 
United  States. 


60      HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Education  a  saving  in  this  respect.    Some  think  otherwise. 

Now  I  neither  say  nor  think  that  all  the  money 
that  is  at  present  thrown  away  on  such  objects  as 
these,  would  be  converted  to  other  and  better  uses 
by  the  universal  diffusion  of  education ;  neither,  on 
the  other  hand,  can  it  be  reasonably  doubted  that 
a  great  part  of  it,  perhaps  more  than  one  half, 
would  be  saved  to  the  community  by  the  establish- 
ment and  maintenance  of  good  schools — such 
schools  as  religion,  humanity,  and  sound  policy 
demand. 

I  am  aware  that  there  are  those  who  entertain 
the  opinion  that  education,  however  thorough  or 
widely  diffused,  would  not  tend  to  diminish  amuse- 
ments, and  especially  theatres.  They  appeal  in 
support  of  this  opinion  to  the  history  of  Rome  and 
the  Grecian  republics,  the  most  intellectual  and 
highly  cultivated  nations  of  ancient  times;  and 
yet,  say  they,  the  theatre  not  only  existed  and 
flourished  among  them,  but  the  fondness  of  the 
people  for  theatrical  representations  amounted  to 
an  actual  passion.  I  admit  the  main  facts  on 
which  the  reasoning  of  these  men  is  based — viz. 
the  civilization  and  theatrical  taste  of  the  ancient 
Greeks  and  Romans  ;*  but  I  submit,  with  all  de- 


*  In  admitting  the  general  civilization,  or  at  least  the  general 
education  of  the  Romans,  I  yield  more  than  could  be  demanded, 
and  more  than  is  warranted  by  the  facts.  The  Roman  people, 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     61 


The  Spirit  of  Christianity  and  of  Theatres  opposite  to  each  other. 

ference,  that  their  reasoning  itself  is  wholly  erro- 
neous. Their  conclusion  is  drawn  from  a  false 
analogy.  Is  shall  have  occasion,  in  the  progress 
of  these  "  Hints,"  to  specify  the  nature  of  the  edu- 
cation I  would  recommend ;  but  it  may  be  proper 
here  to  observe,  in  passing,  that  I  am  firmly  of 
the  opinion  that  no  education,  not  founded  on  and 
impregnated  with  the  genuine  principles  of  the 
Christian  religion,  would  be  worth  the  labour  and 
expense  involved  in  its  attainment.  And  is  it  pos- 
sible that  any  man,  who  knows  whereof  he  affirms, 
can  maintain  that  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  the 
spirit  of  theatres — especially  as  they  are  at  pre- 
sent conducted — are  in  harmony  with  each  other? 
or  that  the  prevalence  of  the  one  would  not  be  the 
decrease  of  the  other  ?  "  Try  the  spirits  whether 
they  be  of  God  ;" — try  them  by  any  test  that  ever 
occurred  to  man  or  angel.  The  ingenuity  of  the 
arch  fiend  himself  would  fail  to  discover,  I  will 
not  say  an  identity,  but  even  a  sympathy  between 
them.  They  are  as  wide  asunder,  as  inconsistent 


properly  speaking,  were  never  an  educated  people.  On  the  con- 
trary, various  decrees  of  the  senate  exist,  the  design  of  which 
was  to  prevent  the  education  of  the  common  people.  But  I  am 
content  to  yield  this  point,  as  I  have  done  in  the  text,  for  the  sake 
of  argument, — being  persuaded  that  the  position  I  have  taken  is 
a  sound  one,  and  that  it  needs  no  support  from  this  source. 
6 


62     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 


Proved  by  a  priori  reasoning.    By  the  History  of  the  ancient  Jews. 


with  each  other,  as  antagonistical  in  their  nature, 
as  light  and  darkness — as  virtue  and  vice — as 
Christ  and  Belial.  This,  I  suppose,  will  hardly 
be  controverted.  The  only  question  which  re- 
mains, then,  is,  whether  a  wise  Christian  educa- 
tion has  a  natural  tendency  to  diffuse  Christian 
principles,  to  strengthen  the  Christian  spirit,  and 
to  promote  the  practice  of  the  Christian  virtues. 
To  argue  this  question  in  a  Christian  community 
would  be  little  less  than  to  trifle  with  the  feelings, 
or  insult  the  understanding,  of  its  members.  To 
maintain  the  negative  of  it  would  be  to  contend 
for  a  proposition,  which,  if  true,  would  reverse  the 
order  of  things,  rupture  the  connexion  between 
cause  and  effect,  and  unsettle  the  foundations  of 
all  our  knowledge. 

But  if,  leaving  this  a  priori  course  of  reasoning, 
we  would  gather  up  the  facts  of  experience,  and 
draw  our  inferences  from  them,  no  example  occurs 
to  me,  so  fully  in  point,  as  that  of  the  ancient  Jews. 
They  were  the  chosen  people  of  Jehovah,  the  ob- 
jects of  his  peculiar  care,  the  witnesses  of  stupen- 
dous miracles  wrought  for  their  special  deliver- 
ance and  preservation,  and  EDUCATED  upon  prin- 
ciples of  divine  inculcation.  And  how  stood  the 
case  with  them  1  Among  all  the  means  appointed 
by  Divine  Wisdom  for  the  attainment  of  a  stern 
and  rigorous  virtue,  the  modern  "  schools  of  mo- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.      63 

The  Theatre  unknown  among  the  Jews. 

rality"  found  no  place.  The  theatre  was  actually 
unknown  among  the  ancient  Israelites.  They  had 
their  amusements,  it  is  true;  and  often  of  a  highly 
exhilarating  and  cheerful%  kind.  But  their  very 
pastimes  were  tinctured  with  the  spirit  of  religion, 
and  some  of  them  even  were  of  the  nature  of 
religious  observances.  And  we  have  the  autho- 
rity of  divine  revelation  for  affirming  that,  when 
Christian  education  shall  have  become  universal, 
such  will  be  the  grasp  and  energy  of  the  devo- 
tional spirit,  that  it  will  invest  every  object  and 
pursuit  with  an  atmosphere  of  sanctity ; — "  every 
pot  in  Jerusalem  shall  be  holy,  and  upon  the  bells 
of  the  horses  shall  be  inscribed,  Holiness  to  the 
Lord." 

I  must  apologize  to  you  for  the  last  two  para- 
graphs. They  were  not  originally  in  the  work ; 
and  were  introduced  only  after  the  objection  they 
attempt  to  meet  had  been  actually  urged  by  an  in- 
telligent and  excellent  friend,  to  whom  the  first 
copy  had  been  submitted.  We  will  now  return 
to  the  thread  of  the  argument,  as  left  at  the  point 
just  indicated. 

It  is  easy  to  'perceive  how  education  would 
tend  to  diminish  the  amusements  and  indul- 
gences specified,  and  others  of  a  like  charac- 
ter with  them.  The  explanation  cannot  be  bet- 


64     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

How  Education  would  diminish  improper  Amusements  and  Indulgences. 

ter  given  than  in  the  words  of  a   late  eminent 
divine.* 

"  By  multiplying  the  mental  resources,  it  has  a 
tendency  to  exalt  the  character,  and  in  some  mea- 
sure to  correct  and  subdue  the  taste  for  gross  sen- 
suality. It  enables  the  possessor  to  beguile  his 
leisure  moments,  (and  every  man  has  such,)  in  an 
innocent  at  least,  if  not  in  a  useful  manner.  The 
poor  man  who  can  read,  and  who  possesses  a  taste 
for  reading,  can  find  entertainment  at  home,  with- 
out being  tempted  to  repair  elsewhere  for  that 
purpose.  His  mind  can  find  employment  while 
his  body  is  at  rest ;  he  does  not  lie  prostrate  and 
afloat  on  the  current  of  incidents,  liable  to  be  car- 
ried whithersoever  the  impulse  of  appetite  may  di- 
rect. There  is  in  the  mind  of  such  a  man  an  in- 
tellectual spring,  urging  him  to  the  pursuit  of 
mental  good ;  and  if  the  minds  of  his  family  also 
are  a  little  cultivated,  conversation  becomes  the 
more  interesting,  and  the  sphere  of  domestic  enjoy- 
ment is  enlarged.  The  calm  satisfaction  which 
books  afford,  puts  him  into  a  disposition  to  relish 
more  exquisitely -the  tranquil  delight  inseparable 
from  the  indulgence  of  the  social  affections.  He 
who  is  inured  to  reflection  will  carry  his  views  be- 


*  Robert  Hal!. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  65 

Amusements  of  a  different  kind  recommended. 

yond  the  present  hour ;  he  will  extend  his  prospect 
a  little  into  futurity,  and  be  disposed  to  make  some 
provision  for  his  approaching  wants  ;  whence  will 
result  an  increased  motive  to  industry,  together 
with  a  care  to  husband  his  earnings,  and  to  avoid 
unnecessary  expense.  The  poor  man  who  has 
gained  a  taste  for  good  books,  will  in  all  likelihood 
become  thoughtful ;  and  when  you  have  given  to 
the  poor  a  habit  of  thinking,  you  have  conferred 
on  them  a  much  greater  favour  than  by  the  gift  of 
a  large  sum  of  money,  since  you  have  put  them  in 
possession  of  the  principle  of  all  legitimate  pros- 
perity."* 


*  Some,  there  may  be,  who,  drawing  their  inferences  as  pre- 
judice or  caprice  dictates,  rather  than  upon  the  principles  of 
right  reason,  will  charge  me  here  with  waging  an  indiscriminate 
warfare  upon  all  amusements.  Such  would  do  me  arrant  injus- 
tice. On  the  contrary,  I  think  that,  as  a  nation,  we  are  deficient 
in  amusements.  The  gay,  the  frivolous,  the  idle,  the  vicious,  and 
the  worldly,  have,  it  is  true,  their  pastimes  of  a  certain  kind,  and 
indulge  in  them  to  excess  ;  but  there  is  a  great  dearth  among  us 
of  those  rational  amusements,  which  are  conducive  alike  to  mo. 
ral,  to  intellectual,  and  to  physical  health ;  and  which  both  the 
philosopher  and  the  Christian  can  approve  and  commend.  Mu- 
sic, that  inexhaustible  resource  for  the  leisure  hours  of  all  classes 
in  Germany  and  other  European  countries,  if  cultivated  here, 
would  become,  in  multitudes  of  cases,  a  refuge  from  ennui,  and  a 
safeguard  against  costly  and  ruinous  gratifications.  Parties  con- 
sisting of  two  or  three  families  might  occasionally  be  found  to 

6  * 


66  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Amusements  indispensable.    Ought  to  be  provided  for  by  the  Good. 

An  adequate  system  of  popular  education  would, 
in  the  third  place,  diminish  the  spirit — and,  con- 


spend  a  day  in  the  open  fields,  where  they  might  enjoy  together 
the  exquisite  beauties  of  nature,  and  partake  of  the  invigorating 
repast  beneath  the  shade  of  ancient  trees,  reclining  upon  the 
green  velvet  of  nature's  own  forming,  fanned  by  the  sweetand  pure 
breath  of  heaven,  and  lulled  and  soothed  by  the  mingled  music 
of  birds  and  streamlets.  Such  parties  would  partake  somewhat 
of  the  nature  of  the  feast  of  tabernacles  among  the  ancient  Israel- 
ites, and  of  the  De  Vega  excursions  of  the  Spaniards  of  our  own 
times.  They  would  strengthen  the  social  affections,  promote  the 
growth  of  the  social  virtues,  and  impart  real  instruction,  especi- 
ally to  the  younger  members  of  the  party,  while  they  afforded  to 
all  pleasures  of  the  purest,  most  healthful,  and  most  elevating 
kind.  The  young  might  be  usefully  amused  by  visiting  manu- 
factories, inspecting  various  kinds  of  machinery,  and  beholding 
the  endlessly  diversified  results  of  human  ingenuity.  The  social 
circle,  the  air-balloon,  the  camera  obscuraupon  a  large  scale,  the 
more  brilliant  of  the  experiments  in  chemistry  and  natural  phi- 
losophy, the  wonders  of  the  world  beneath  and  the  worlds  above 
us,  as  revealed  by  the  microscope  and  the  telescope, — all  these 
might  be  made  to  blend  amusement  and  instruction,  and  would 
afford  recreations  worthy  of  immortal  and  accountable  beings. 
Nor  am  I  disposed  to  deny  that  the  drama  itself,  if  culti- 
vated, not  for  purposes  of  gain,  but  for  the  entertainment  of 
select  circles  of  friends  and  acquaintances,  and  enacted  by  ama- 
teurs instead  of  professed  actors,  might  be  made  a  source  of  pure 
and  instructive  amusement. 

Amusement  of  some  kind  seems  indispensable  to  our  nature, 
and  men  will  have  it  at  any  cost,  whether  of  morals  or  money. 
And  if  the  friends  of  order  and  virtue,  the  rightful  guardians  of 
the  public  morals,  will  not  provide  for  this  instinctive  and  irre- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     67 

Education  diminishes  Litigation.     Promotes  Peace  and  Forbearance. 

sequently,  the  expense — of  litigation.  One  princi- 
pal object  of  education  is  to  teach  men  their  duty, 
and  to  supply  motives  to  the  performance  of  it. 
If  this  were  properly  done  with  respect  to  all  the 
youth  of  our  land,  if  just  sentiments  with  regard 
to  revenge  and  the  forgiveness  of  injuries  were 
early,  and  earnestly,  and  perseveringly  inculcated, 
if  that  cardinal  principle  of  human  intercourse — 
Do^unto  others  as  ye  would  that  they  should  do 
unto  you — were  unfolded  to  their  understanding 
and  impressed  upon  their  heart,  by  men  respected 
for  their  learning,  and  beloved  for  their  virtues, 
would  it  not  tend  to  promote  those  dispositions,  so 
beautifully  described  by  Paul  as  the  "  ornaments 
of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit  ?"  Can  it  be  doubted 
that  the  effect  of  such  training  would  be  to 
strengthen  the  bonds  of  universal  brotherhood. 


prcssible  craving  of  the  soul,  multitudes  of  others  stand  ready  to 
do  it,  and  to  make  merchandize  of  the  health,  the  happiness,  and 
the  souls  of  their  fellow-men.  I  am  forcibly  reminded  here  of  an 
anecdote  I  saw  a  few  years  ago  of  an  interview  between  an  Ame- 
rican scholar  and  a  professor  in  the  university  of  Palermo,  in 
Sicily.  The  Sicilian  inquired  of  the  American  what  were 
the  pastimes  of  our  literary  men  ?  The  latter  replied,  "  They 
have  none."  "  No  wonder  then,"  said  the  other,  "  that  they  lan- 
guish for  a  few  years  in  feeble  health,  and  then  die  prematurely. 
I  could  not  live  without  spending  two  or  three  hours  every  day  at 
my  piano." 


68      HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Education  snves  by  diminishing  Pauperism  and  Criminal  Prosecutions. 

and  thus  to  diminish  the  number  of  lawsuits  by 
preventing  the  occasions  of  them  ?  It  would  also 
tend  to  the  same  result  in  a  different  way.  It 
would  make  men  better  acquainted  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  law  and  justice,  increase  their  confidence 
in  each  other's  judgment,  and  cause  them  more 
frequently,  when  disputes  did  arise,  to  resort  to 
the  less  expensive,  and  often  more  equitable  mode, 
of  settling  them  by  arbitration. 

Again :  The  thorough  education  of  all  the  peo- 
ple would  be  an  annual  saving  to  the  nation  of 
many  millions  of  dollars  by  its  tendency  to  dimi- 
nish pauperism,  and  to  lessen  the  number  of  crimi- 
nal prosecutions.  By  whom  are  our  prisons  and 
poor-houses  now  filled  to  overflowing?  A  re- 
ference to  the  statistics  of  crime  and  poverty  will 
show  that  it  is  almost  exclusively  by  those  whose 
intellects  have  never  been  enlightened  by  know- 
ledge, and  whose  hearts  lack  that  moral  culture, 
which  good  education  always  bestows.  Pour  the 
light  of  science  into  the  minds  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, and  imbue  them  early  with  the  principles 
of  religion,  and  more  than  one-half  of  those  edi- 
fices which  are  now  devoted  to  the  reception  of 
convicts  and  paupers,  might  be  either  pulled  down, 
or  devoted  to  some  purpose,  I  will  not  say  better, 
for  nothing  better  can  be  done  while  such  classes 
exist  among  us,  but  at  least  to  some  use,  which 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  69 

It  would  increase  the  Capacity  of  each  Individual  in  the  Community. 

would  not  be  a  perpetual  monument  of  our  dege- 
neracy, and  upon  whose  causes,  as  well  as  conse- 
quences, we  could  reflect  without  a  sigh  or  a 
blush. 

Another  way  in  which  universal  education 
would  promote  the  wealth  of  the  country,  is  by  in- 
creasing the  capacity  of  each  individual  in  the 
community,  by  enabling  all  to  turn  their  powers  to 
the  best  account,  and  by  adding  something  to  the 
average  duration  of  human  life.  The  first  part 
of  this  proposition  is  very  much  of  the  character 
of  an  axiom.  It  is  a  law  of  our  nature,  as  well 
established,  and  as  generally  admitted,  as  any 
other,  that  all  our  capacities,  whether  of  mind  or 
tody,  are  improved  by  exercise  and  culture.  This 
law  of  exercise  is  of  universal  application, — ex- 
tending, as  it  has  been  well  remarked,  from  the 
energy  of  a  muscle,  to  the  highest  intellectual  and 
moral  faculties.  And  that  he  whose  powers  have 
been  developed  by  education,  whose  faculties  have 
been  trained  by  exercise,  and  whose  general  capa- 
city both  for  planning  and  executing  is  thereby 
and  therefore  enlarged,  can  accomplish  more  in  a 
given  time  than  another  who  is  inferior  to  him  in 
these  respects,  is  one  of  those  principles  which 
cannot  be  proved  by  reasoning,  because  there  are 
no  other  principles  of  more  obvious  and  admitted 
correctness  upon  which  it  can  repose.  It  is  a 


70      HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

It  would  enable  all  to  turn  their  Powers  to  the  best  Account. 

truth  which,  when  first  enunciated,  strikes  the 
mind  as  self-evident ;  and  which,  therefore,  admits 
only  that  kind  of  proof,  which  is  termed  illustra- 
tion. It  would  be  an  easy  task  to  fill  many  pages 
in  illustrating  this  position ;  but  this  would  be  a 
waste  of  time,  strength,  and  paper.  Illustration, 
all-sufficient,  must  be  in  the  memory  of  every 
man  of  observation.  Who  does  not  know,  who 
has  not  seen,  that,  in  every  pursuit  of  life,  those 
who  are  most  skilful,  are  also,  almost  without  ex- 
ception, most  successful  in  amassing  wealth  ?  But 
he  who  yields  this  point,  yields  the  whole  argu- 
ment. Skill,  in  any  business  or  profession,  is  no- 
thing other  than  that  complex  result  consequent 
upon  the  appropriate  training  of  our  faculties,  the 
harmonious  development  of  our  various  animal, 
mental,  and  moral  powers. 

That  an  education  of  all  the  people,  sufficiently 
comprehensive  in  its  range  of  studies,  and  of  a 
proper  character  in  other  respects,  would  have 
considerable  effect  in  prolonging  human  life,  will 
not,  gentlemen,  be  questioned  by  you,  nor,  I  appre- 
hend, by  any  one  else,  after  duly  weighing  exist- 
ing facts,  and  the  natural  operation  of  cause  and 
effect.  It  is  an  undeniable  fact,  that  the  average 
duration  of  life  is  far  greater  in  civilized  than  in 
savage  countries.  It  is  impossible  to  ascertain 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.      71 

It  would  prolong  Human  Life.    How  this  Result  would  follow. 

the  exact  ratio  of  duration,  owing  to  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  statistics  on  any  subject  among  bar- 
barous tribes ;  but  it  is  thought  by  some  that  civil- 
ized men  live  nearly  twice  as  long  as  savages. 
What  is  the  fair  inference  from  this  remarkable 
fact?  Certainly,  that  there  is  some  quality  in 
knowledge,  the  tendency  of  which  is  to  prolong 
human  existence.  What  is  this  quality  1  Is  it  so 
subtile  as  to  elude  our  search,  and  baffle  our  efforts 
to  grasp  it  ?  I  think  not.  Unless  I  am  deceived, 
it  will  be  found  in  this — viz. — that  knowledge,  and 
especially  Christian  knowledge,  forms  habits,  cre- 
ates a  moral  atmosphere,  establishes  a  state  of  so- 
ciety, favourable  to  the  result  actually  occurring. 
Temperance  in  all  things,  cheerful  industry,  inno- 
cent recreation,  and  a  quiet  conscience,  are  among 
the  most  important  conditions  of  long  life.  And 
has  it  not  been  already  shown,  to  the  satisfaction 
of  all  candid  persons,  that  good  education  tends, 
directly  and  powerfully,  to  produce  all  these  ef- 
fects ?  But  besides  this,  such  education  as  I  could 
desire  to  see  made  universal,  would  diffuse  a  gene- 
ral knowledge  of  the  more  direct  laws  of  health  ; 
and  this  knowledge,  though  of  comparatively 
little  avail  while  existing  only  in  isolated  cases, 
when  communicated  to  the  whole  mass  of  society, 
and  instilled,  practically  as  well  as  theoretically. 


72      HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Universal  Education  would  quicken  ingenuity,  and  promote  Inventions. 

from  early  childhood,  could  not  be  altogether  in- 
operative.* 

Again :  A  system  of  universal  and  sound  edu- 
cation would  tend  to  quicken  ingenuity,  and  thus 
to  promote  those  inventions  and  discoveries,  by 
the  application  of  which  to  the  arts  of  life  the 
wealth  of  individuals  and  of  nations  is  incalcula- 
bly augmented.  Men  without  education,  or  with 
comparatively  little,  may,  by  some  fortunate  acci- 
dent— as  the  principle  of  making  glass  is  said  to 
have  been  discovered  by  some  Syrian  fishermen — 
or,  by  the  mere  force  of  original  talent — as  Pas- 
chal, while  yet  a  youth,  and  before  he  had  even 
heard  of  Euclid,  actually  rediscovered  the  science 
of  geometry — such  persons,  I  say,  may,  by  possi- 
bility, stumble  upon  some  undiscovered  principle, 
or  strike  out  some  new  idea,  which  may  be  ap- 
plied to  purposes  of  great  and  general  utility.  But 
it  is  impossible  that  such  cases  should  be  of  fre- 
quent occurrence.  I  hardly  remember  more  than 
the  two  already  cited  as  examples;  and  even  as  to 
these,  the  former  is  somewhat  apocryphal,  and 


*  The  author  is  happy  to  have  these  views  confirmed  by  the 
opinion  of  so  competent  a  physiologist  as  Dr.  J.  K.  Mitchell,  of 
Philadelphia ; — who  combines,  in  an  eminent  degree,  general 
science  and  professional  merit,  with  those  more  elegant  accom- 
plishments which  mark  (he  man  of  letters  and  the  gentleman. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     73 

Knowledge  as  well  as  Genius  necessary  to  tit  men  for  inventing. 

it  may  well  be  questioned  whether  the  latter  is 
exactly  a  case  in  point.*  Some  previous  know- 
ledge and  mental  discipline,  as  well  as  genius, 
some  acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  science, 
are  necessary  to  fit  men  for  originating  those  cu- 
rious combinations  of  thought,  and  pursuing  those 
felicitous  trains  of  experiment,  which  penetrate 
into  the  secrets  of  nature  and  the  regions  of  inven- 
tion, and  bring  back  those  bloodless  trophies, 
which  shed  a  real  glory  on  our  race,  which  exalt 
our  conceptions  of  the  power  and  dignity  of  the 
human  mind,  and  which  multiply,  beyond  expres- 
sion, our  comforts  and  our  gains. 

History,  so  far  as  its  voice  is  heard  at  all  on 
this  subject,  will  fully  bear  me  out  in  this  position. 
Almost  all  the  valuable  discoveries  and  inventions 
on  record  have  been  made  by  educated  men — 
self-educated,  it  may  be,  and  struggling  amid  ne- 
glect or  contumely,  against  obstacles  insuperable 
by  less  resolute  minds,  till  they  have  brought  their 
labours  to  a  happy  termination ; — and  those  na- 
tions where  the  general  intellect  has  been  most 
cultivated,  and  the  light  of  science  most  widely  dif- 


*  Paschal,  though  he  knew  nothing  of  geometry,  was  far 
from  being  uneducated.  His  father  was  one  of  the  most  emi- 
nent mathematicians  in  France,  whose  house  was  the  constant 
resort  of  learned  men. 

7 


74     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

History  confirms  this.    Comparison  between  England  and  France. 

fused,  have  also  been  most  distinguished  for  the 
number  of  their  labour-saving  machines,  and  for 
their  improvements  in  the  various  branches  of 
industry,  by  which  wealth  is  accumulated.  It  is 
chiefly  through  the  use  of  machinery  that  modern 
nations  have  been  enabled  so  immeasurably  to  out- 
strip those  of  ancient  times  in  riches ;  and  it  is 
by  the  same  means  that  one  nation  now  surpasses 
another  in  this  respect. 

In  illustration  of  this  point,  President  Young 
has  made  a  comparison,  founded  upon  the  statis- 
tics of  Baron  Dupin,  between  the  commercial  and 
manufacturing  condition  of  England  and  France. 
From  this  calculation  it  appears  that  the  muscular 
force  employed  in  commerce  and  manufactures  in 
those  two  countries  is  about  equal,  being  in  each 
equivalent,  in  round  numbers,  to  the  power  of  six 
millions  of  men.  Thus,  if  the  productive  enter- 
prise of  the  two  countries  depended  solely  upon  the 
animate  power  employed,  France  ought  to  be  as 
great  a  commercial  and  manufacturing  country  as 
England.  But  the  English,  by  means  of  machi- 
nery, have  increased  their  force  to  a  power  equal 
to  that  of  twenty-five  millions  of  men,  while  the 
French  have  only  raised  theirs  to  that  of  eleven 
millions.  England,  then,  owing  to  her  superiority 
in  discovering  and  inventing,  has  more  than  quad- 
rupled her  power  of  men  and  horses ;  France,  on 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  75 

England's  Gain  over  France  by  her  Inventions  and  Discoveries. 

the  other  hand,  has  not  quite  doubled  hers.  "  Is 
it,"  the  learned  President  then  pertinently  inquires, 
"  is  it  now  any  wonder  that  these  islanders,  with 
a  narrower  territory,  smaller  population,  and  less 
genial  climate,  should  immensely  outstrip  their 
less  intelligent  and  ingenious  neighbour?  And  can 
we  conceive  a  stronger  proof  of  the  actual  pecu- 
niary gain,  that  accrues  to  a  nation  from  culti- 
vating the  intellect  of  her  sons,  than  is  furnished 
by  such  a  fact?" 

Let  us  look  a  little  into  this  fact,  to  ascertain,  if 
possible,  how  much  England  gains  by  her  supe- 
riority in  this  matter  over  France.  The  actual 
commercial  and  manufacturing  power  of  the  latter 
country  is  only  two-fifths  of  that  of  the  former. 
The  present  annual  value  of  the  cotton  manufac- 
ture in  Great  Britain,  according  to  the  Encyclo- 
paedia Britannica,  is  estimated  to  be  about  thirty- 
five  millions  of  pounds  sterling.  Three-fifths  of 
that  sum,  or  more  than  twenty  millions  of  pounds, 
is  England's  clear  gain  over  her  less  skilful  rival — 
an  amount  more  than  three  times  as  great  as  the 
whole  present  annual  revenue  of  the  United  States. 
And  for  this  vast  and  ever  increasing  tide  of  pros- 
perity, England  is  clearly  indebted  to  popular 
education,  which  is  the  parent  of  intelligence,  and 
the  ultimate  cause  of  all  those  improvements  in  the 
cotton  manufacture,  by  which  these  amazing  re- 
sults have  been  secured. 


76     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

British  Cotton  Trade.  MiddJeton'a  Plan  for  supplying  London  with  Water. 

There  is  a  striking  fact  connected  with  the 
British  East  India  cotton  trade,  which  illustrates 
the  wonderful  superiority,  in  respect  to  their  com- 
mand over  the  elements  of  wealth,  of  those  nations 
where  the  common  mind  is  developed  and  stimu- 
lated by  education.  The  manufacture  of  cotton 
goods  was  commenced  in  the  East  Indies,  and  for 
a  long  time,  cotton  fabrics  were  imported  from 
that  country  into  England.  Now,  however,  in 
consequence  of  the  introduction  of  machinery  into 
England,  and  the  perfection  to  which  it  has  been 
brought,  British  manufacturers  purchase  the  raw 
material  in  India,  transport  it  seven  thousand  miles 
by  water,  pay  a  heavy  duty  to  the  state  upon  it, 
convert  it  into  cloth,  and  then  send  it  back  again, 
and  actually  undersell  the  natives*  in  their  own 
market. 

The  ingenuity  of  a  single  intellect,  which  might 
have  slept  for  ever  in  ignorance  and  inactivity  but 
for  the  influence  of  education,  sometimes  saves  a 
nation  more  than  it  would  cost  to  educate  tho- 
roughly all  her  sons.  About  a  century  ago,  Hugh 
Middleton  devised  a  plan  for  supplying  London 
with  pure  water.  It  is  estimated  that  a  supply  of 


*  The  same  rude  hand-looms  are  still  employed  by  them    in 
the  manufacture  of  cotton,  which  were  used  by  their  ancestors 
many  centuries  ago. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  77 

Immense  Saving  by  it.    Application  of  Steam  to  Boats  and  Cars. 

wholesome  water  for  that  metropolis,  if  furnished 
by  hauling,  the  method  originally  in  use,  would 
cost  nine  millions  of  pounds  sterling.  By  Middle- 
ton's  plan  it  costs  considerably  less  than  half  a 
million.  Thus  London  has,  by  one  invention, 
been  saved  an  annual  expense,  in  the  article  of 
water  alone,  of  more  than  eight  and  a  half  millions 
of  pounds  sterling,  or  about  forty  millions  of  dol- 
lars. This  sum  is  more  than  enough  to  maintain 
good  schools  in  the  whole  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland. 

Education,  such  as  it  exists  at  present  among 
us,  has  already,  by  the  inventions  and  discoveries 
of  which  k  has  been  the  source,  increased  the 
riches  of  this  nation  to  an  extent  incalculably  be- 
yond all  that  the  best  system  would  have  cost  us. 
The  application  of  steam  to  the  propulsion  of  boats 
and  railroad-cars,  is  alone  more  than  sufficient  to 
justify  this  remark.  "  It  has  already  done  more 
for  every  state  in  this  union  than  all  the  power  of 
industry,  working  by  the  old  methods,  could  have 
effected  for  it  in  a  hundred  years.  It  has  filled 
our  houses  with  the  productions  of  every  country 
and  climate,  and  has  raised  the  price  of  every 
acre  of  our  land,  and  almost  every  article  of  our 
produce."  These  are  its  direct  consequences : 
but  it  has  produced  collateral  effects,  scarcely  less 
auspicious  to  the  prosperity  and  riches  of  the 
7* 


78  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

The  Cotton  Cultivator.    Card  making  Machine.    Cotton  Gin. 

country,  in  the  powerful  impulse  it  has  given  to 
commerce,  manufactures,  agriculture,  and  all 
other  branches  of  industry,  by  which  men  seek  to 
create  or  to  augment  their  fortunes. 

But  the  advantages  of  the  application  of  steam 
to  these  purposes,  great  as  they  are,  scarcely  bear 
a  proportion  to  the  aggregate  of  benefits  derived 
from  innumerable  other  inventions  and  discoveries. 
An  instrument,  called  the  cotton  cultivator,  has  re- 
cently been  invented,  for  thinning  and  weeding 
cotton,  which,  it  is  estimated,  will  perform  the 
work  of  twenty  men.  I  cannot,  for  want  of  the 
necessary  data,  which  are  not  accessible  to  me 
where  I  write,  enter  into  statements  to  show  how 
much  labour  and  expense  are  annually  saved  to 
the  United  States  by  Whittimore's  card-making 
machine,  and  Whitney's  cotton  gin ;  but  the  amount 
must  be  immense.  Who  can  tell  how  much  is 
saved  to  the  husbandman,  and  the  extent  to  which 
his  gains  are  increased,  by  the  use  of  the  pa- 
tent rake,  and  of  the  reaping  and  threshing  ma- 
chines, and  by  the  invention  and  improvement 
of  various  other  instruments  for  facilitating  his 
labours  ? 

We  cannot,  however,  descend  to  particulars. 
The  ingenuity  of  our  countrymen  has  been  direct- 
ed, and  often  with  the  most  gratifying  results,  to 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  79 

Various  other  Inventions.    Their  Effect  on  National  Prosperity. 

the  invention  of  power-multiplying*  machines,  in 
every  branch  of  human  industry.  A  mere  cata- 
logue of  the  patents  granted  by  the  United  States 
would  fill  several  volumes.  And  to  what  are  we 
indebted  for  this  vast  mass  of  labour-saving  ma- 
chinery, this  multitude  that  can  scarcely  be  num- 
bered, of  instruments  for  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  ?  I  reply  unhesitatingly, — To  the  develop- 
ment of  the  popular  mind  by  education. 

But  the  intellect  of  this  people  is  not  cultivated 
to  one  fourth — scarcely,  perhaps,  to  one  eighth — 
the  extent  that  it  would  be  by  the  adoption  of  a 
wise  system  of  universal  education.  And  who  can 
calculate  the  results, — what  imagination  can  set 
limits  to  the  pecuniary  advantages  that  would  ac- 
crue to  the  country,  if  useful  inventions  and  disco- 
veries were  multiplied  fourfold  ?  What  multitudes, 
it  has  been  well  asked,  would  then  benefit  society 
by  their  ingenuity,  who  now  curse  it  with  their 
vices?  How  many  Franklins,  and  Fultons,  and 
Rittenhouses  would  rise  up  to  bless  the  world,  if 


*  I  employ  this  word  according-  to  popular  usage.  I  am  well 
aware  that  it  is  not  scientifically  correct.  There  is  really  no  such 
thing  in  art  as  an  increased  result,  without  a  corresponding  in- 
crease in  the  producing  power.  All  that  the  most  complex  and 
ingenious  machinery  can  do,  is  to  concentrate  power,  to  change 
its  direction,  or  in  some  way  to  modify  its  action, 


80     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Governor  Everett's  beautiful  Eulogtum  on  the  Time-Piece. 

the  beams  of  knowledge  were  poured  upon  every 
mind,  to  kindle  the  flame  of  slumbering  genius! 
But  if  the  education  of  all  the  children  of  a  state 
for  centuries  raised  up  only  one  such  discoverer 
as  Fulton,  or  Watt,  or  Arkwright,  without  yield- 
ing another  advantage,  the  country  would  be  im- 
mensely a  gainer  by  the  outlay.* 


*  I  introduce  in  this  place,  partly  because  it  serves  as  a  measure 
to  enforce  my  own  argument,  but  more  on  account  of  its  great 
beauty  of  style  and  thought,  the  following  extract  from  Governor 
Everett's  Address  before  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Associa- 
tion, descriptive  of  the  value  of  that  ingenious  little  instrument, 
which  marks  the  progress  of  time.  "  Consider,"  says  he,  "  the 
influence  on  the  affairs  of  men,  in  all  their  relations,  of  the  in- 
vention of  the  little  machine  which  I  hold  in  my  hand,  and  the 
other  modern  instrument  for  the  measurement  of  time,  various 
specimens  of  which  are  on  exhibition  in  the  halls.  To  say  no- 
thing of  the  importance  of  an  accurate  measurement  of  time  in 
astronomical  observations,  nothing  of  the  application  of  time- 
keepers to  the  purposes  of  navigation — how  vast  must  be  the  ag- 
gregate effect  on  the  affairs  of  life,  throughout  the  civilized 
world;  and,  in  the  progress  of  ages,  of  a  convenient  and  porta- 
ble apparatus  for  measuring  the  lapse  of  time  !  Who  can  calcu- 
late in  how  many  of  those  critical  junctures  when  the  affairs  of 
weightiest  import  hang  upon  the  issue  of  an  hour,  prudence  and 
forecast  have  triumphed  over  blind  casualty,  by  being  enabled  to 
measure  with  precision  the  flight  of  time,  in  its  smallest  subdi- 
visions ! 

"  Is  it  not  something  more  than  mere  mechanism,  which 
watches  with  us  by  the  sick  bed  of  some  dear  friend,  through  the 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     81 

Education  increases  our  Command  ovti  the  Products  of  Nature. 

Finally,  on  this  branch  of  the  argument,  the  dif- 
fusion of  sound  and  suitable  education  among  all 
the  members  of  a  community,  would  enable  them 
to  push  their  researches  to  an  indefinite  extent  into 
the  powers  and  productions  of  physical  nature,  to 
subject  these  mighty  agents  to  their  will,  and  to 
render  them  subservient  to  the  purposes  of  gain. 
Here  are  two  distinct  and  prolific  sources  or 
instruments  of  wealth — the  powers  of  nature  and 


livelong  solitude  of  night,  enabling  us  to  count,  in  the  slackening 
pulse,  Nature's  trembling  steps  towards  recovery,  and  to  admi- 
nister the  prescribed  remedy  at  the  precise,  perhaps  the  critical 
moment  of  its  application !  By  means  of  a  watch,  punctuality  in 
all  his  duties,  which  in  its  perfection  is  one  of  the  incommunica- 
ble attributes  of  Deity,  is  brought,  in  no  mean  measure,  within 
the  reach  of  man.  He  is  enabled,  if  he  will  be  guided  by  this, 
to  imitate  that  sublime  precision  which  led  the  earth,  after  a 
circuit  of  five  hundred  millions  of  miles,  back  to  the  solstice  at  the 
appointed  moment  without  the  loss  of  one  second,  no,  not  the  mil- 
lionth part  of  a  second,  for  the  ages  on  ages  during  which  it  has 
travelled  that  road.  What  a  miracle  of  art,  that  a  man  can  teach 
a  few  brass  wheels,  and  a  little  piece  of  elastic  steel,  to  outcalcu- 
late>  himself;  to  give  him  a  rational  answer  to  one  of  the  most 
important  questions  which  a  being  travelling  towaWs  eternity  can 
ask  !  What  a  miracle  that  a  man  can  put  within  this  little  machine 
a  spirit  that  measures  the  flight  of  time  with  greater  accuracy 
than  the  unassisted  intellect  of  the  profoundest  philosopher ; 
which  watches  and  moves  when  sleep  palsies  alike  the  hand  of 
the  maker  and  the  mind  of  the  contriver,  nay,  when  the  last 
sleep  has  come  over  them  both," 


82     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Man  encompassed  with  a  vast  Assemblage  of  Powers. 

the  productions  of  nature — over  each  of  which  the 
best  educated,  whether  individuals  or  nations,  have 
the  greatest  command,  and  can  most  readily  and 
effectually  turn  them  to  account  in  the  pursuit  of 
riches.  The  connexion  here  specified,  viz.  be- 
tween education  and  the  ability  to  make  nature 
herself  the  minister  of  wealth,  if  not  received 
exactly  as  an  axiom,  will,  I  suppose,  be  gene- 
rally acknowledged  as  a  truth  already  suffi- 
ciently established  by  experience.  All  that  is  ne- 
cessary, then,  to  our  present  purpose  is  to  give  a 
few  exemplifications  of  the  value  of  this  power,  in 
other  words,  the  extent  to  which  it  may  be  applied 
for  promoting  the  end  supposed ; — to  place,  as  it 
were,  an  occasional  buoy,  indicating  the  channel 
through  which  the  thoughts  and  investigations  of 
those  must  flow  who  would  come  to  a  full  under- 
standing of  the  pecuniary  benefits  to  be  derived 
from  this  source. 

If  we  look  around  us  to  ascertain  our  true  posi- 
tion and  circumstances,  we  shall  find  ourselves 
encompassed  with  a  vast  assemblage  of  powers,* 
which  all  bear  some  relation  to  the  human  intel- 
ligence, and  many  of  which  are  susceptible  of 


*  And  there  are  doubtless  many  others  still  hid  in  the  womb 
of  nature,  which  science  will  yet  bring  to  light,  and  art  apply  to 
beneficial  ends. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     83 

_ _  / 

All  those  Powers  related  to  the  Human  Intelligence.    The  Loadstone. 

being,  in  some  way  and  to  some  extent,  controlled 
and  converted  to  our  use,  by  art  and  skill.  There 
is  a  mysterious  power  in  the  earth,  which  draws 
the  loadstone  always  towards  the  same  point.  The 
discovery  of  this  power,  and  the  application  of  it 
to  the  construction  of  the  magnetic  needle  and  the 
mariner's  compass,  have  made  the  ocean  the 
highway  of  nations — the  ocean,  that  liquid  plain 
without  line  or  landmark,  which  stretches  over  half 
the  globe,  and  which  suffers  the  mightiest  ships  to 
cut  their  way  through  its  waters  without  leaving 
the  least  traces  of  their  progress.  Had  not  the 
intelligence  of  man — an  intelligence,  be  it  always 
remembered,  drawn  forth  by  education — made 
this  secret  influence  subservient  to  his  purposes, 
what  would  now  be  the  state  of  commerce  ;  what 
the  condition  of  this  mighty  continent;  what  our 
knowledge  of  remote  countries ;  what  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  world?*  It  would  require  a  volume, 
nay,  almost  a  library,  to  develope  in  detail  all  the 
effects,  having  either  a  direct  or  a  remote  relation 
to  the  acquisition  of  wealth,  of  this  wonderful 


*  How,  indeed,  without  it,  could  the  gospel  be  carried  to  the 
"  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  ?"  and  the  last  command  of  a  suf- 
fering Saviour  be  fulfilled  ?  But  I  did  not  introduce  this  con- 
sideration into  the  text,  because  it  is  not  pertinent  to  the  argu- 
ment in  hand. 


84  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Gravitation.   Expansive  Power  of  Heat— Application  to  Business  of  Life. 

principle,  and  the  instruments  which  have  been 
invented  to  render  it  available  for  human  use. 

There  is  another  mysterious  power  in  the  earth, 
which  causes  all  bodies  on  or  near  its  surface  to 
tend  towards  the  centre.  It  is  this  principle  which 
makes  water  seek  its  level,  and  descend  in 
streams  from  more  elevated  regions  towards  the 
ocean.  But  educated  intelligence  enables  man  to 
stay  the  torrent  in  its  course,  to  turn  it  from  its 
channel,  to  appropriate  its  moving  force,  and  thus 
to  make  it  grind  his  corn,  manufacture  his  cloth, 
print  his  books,  forge  his  iron,  spin  his  thread,  and 
perform  many  other  useful  and  profitable  ser- 
vices. 

There  is  a  hidden  influence  or  power,  in  heat, 
which  causes  almost  all  known  substances  to  ex- 
pand, and  liquids  in  the  process  of  expansion  to 
assume  the  gaseous  form.  To  what  endless  uses, 
in  the  business  of  life,  has  not  civilized  and  edu- 
cated man  applied  this  simple  principle  ?  He  has 
employed  it  to  measure  the  state  of  the  atmosphere, 
to  blast  the  rocks  with  which  he  rears  his  cities, 
to  move  the  "  floating  palace"  through  the  water, 
to  send  the  richly  freighted  car  careering  through 
the  air,  to  give  intensity  to  his  destructive  ener- 
gies in  the  wars  he  wages  with  his  enemies,  and 
to  set  machinery  of  all  kinds  and  for  all  purposes 
in  motion. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     85 

Knowledge  is  truly  Power.    Man's  Interest  lies  in  Knowing. 

"  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,"  and  no 
human  power  can  change  its  direction.  But  can 
man  do  nothing  with  it  ?  Yes ;  he  can  and  does. 
He  spreads  his  canvass  to  the  gale,  catches  a  por- 
tion of  the  moving  element,  and  traverses  by  its 
aid  the  broadest  oceans  for  purposes  of  traffic  and 
of  gain. 

"In  such  a  state  of  things,"  as  Mr.  Combe  well 
remarks,  "  knowledge  is  truly  power ;  and  it  is  ob- 
viously the  interest  of  human  beings  to  become 
acquainted  with  the  constitution  and  relations  of 
every  object  around  them,  that  they  may  dis- 
cover its  capabilities  of  ministering  to  their  advan- 
tage. Farther, — where  these  physical  energies 
are  too  great  to  be  controlled,  man  has  received 
intelligence,  by  which  he  may  observe  their 
course,  and  accommodate  his  conduct  to  their 
influence.  This  capacity  of  adaptation  is  a 
valuable  substitute  for  the  power  of  regulating^ 
them  by  his  will.  Man  cannot  arrest  the  sun  in 
its  course,  so  as  to  avert  the  wintry  storm  and 
cause  perpetual  spring  to  bloom  around  him;  but, 
by  the  proper  exercise  of  his  intelligence  and  cor- 
poreal energies,  he  is  able  to  foresee  the  approach 
of  bleak  skies  and  rude  winds,  and  to  place  him- 
self in  safety  from  their  injurious  effects.  These 
powers  of  controlling  nature,  and  of  accommo- 
dating his  conduct  to  its  course,  are  the  direct  re- 
8 


86  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Knowledge  of  the  Productions  of  Nnture  advantageous. 

suits  of  his  rational  faculties ;  and  in  proportion 
to  their  cultivation  is  his  sway  extended.  If  the 
rain  fall,  and  the  wind'  blow,  and  the  ocean  bil- 
lows lash  against  the  mere  animal,  it  must  endure 
them  all ;  because  it  cannot  control  their  action, 
nor  protect  itself  by  art  from  their  power.  Man, 
while  ignorant,  continues  in  a  condition  almost 
equally  helpless.  But  let  him  put  forth  his  proper 
human  capacities,  [and  cultivate  the  faculties  with 
which  his  Creator  has  endowed  him,]  and  he  then 
finds  himself  invested  with  the  power  to  rear,  to 
build,  to  fabricate,  and  to  store  up  provisions;  and, 
by  availing  himself  of  these  resources,  and  accom- 
modating his  conduct  to  the  course  of  nature's 
laws,"  he  is  able  not  only  to  obtain  a  competency, 
but  to  amass  wealth,  and  may  "  smile  in  safety  be- 
side the  cheerful  hearth,  when  the  elements  main- 
tain their  fiercest  war  abroad." 

A  well  educated  community  does  not  possess  a 
less  striking  advantage  over  an  ignorant  one  in 
their  knowledge  of  the  productions  of  nature,  their 
ability  to  increase  this  knowledge  indefinitely,  and 
their  power  of  making  it  tell  on  the  public  pros- 
perity. This  position  is  susceptible  of  interesting 
and  forcible  illustration  from  the  geological  surveys 
recently  made,  or  now  in  progress,  in  several  of 
the  states  of  this  union.  Who,  till  then,  had  formed 
any  conception  of  the  varied  and  inexhaustible 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     97 

Geological  Surveys.    Mineral  Wealth.    Monmnuth  County. 

mineral  resources  of  this  country  ?  And  who  now 
can  tell  the  yet  undiscovered  riches  embowelled  in 
our  mountains,  or  sleeping  undisturbed,  because 
unknown,  beneath  the  surface  of  our  valleys?  It 
is  but  a  few  years  since  that  Monmouth  county, 
in  New- Jersey,  was  one  of  the  poorest  counties  in 
the  state.  The  real  estate  there  is  now  worth 
more  than  in  any  other  county  in  our  common- 
wealth. Whence  this  change  ?  It  is  owing  solely 
to  the  discovery  and  use  of  marl  by  the  farmers. 
Lands  in  that  county  worth,  five  years  ago,  no 
more  than  from  five  to  ten  dollars  an  acre,  are 
now  valued  at  a  hundred  dollars;  and  the  farmers 
who  own  them  are  all  making  fortunes. 

But  more  space  has  already  been  devoted  to 
this  division  of  these  "  Hints"  than  was  originally 
intended ;  and  I  forbear  pursuing  the  train  of 
thought  suggested  by  this  topic.  You  will,  how- 
ever, I  trust,  excuse  one  illustration  of  the  point 
under  consideration.  It  is  taken  from  the  history 
of  the  Ban  de  la  Roche,  which  has  already  been 
repeatedly  referred  to  as  full  of  excellent  and 
various 'instruction.  Before  Oberlin  went  to  that 
district,  its  inhabitants  had  subsisted  almost  en- 
tirely on  a  sort  of  wild  potatoes,  which  their 
exhausted  soil  produced  in  very  scanty  quantities. 
Oberlin,  having  a  thorough  knowledge  of  botany, 
instructed  his  people  in  the  properties  of  their 


88     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Illustrated  by  Oberlin's  People. 

indigenous  plants.  Among  them  were  the  stripe- 
flowered  cabbage;  common  chickweed;  water 
mouse-eared  chickweed;  common  goose-foot; 
common  dandelion;  mountain  willow-herb;  but- 
ter-cup; yellow  dead  nettle;  white  dead  nettle; 
common  hop;  red  pimpernel;  great  plaintain; 
upright  crow-foot ;  twisted  snake-weed ;  common 
sorrel ;  lamb's  lettuce ;  bladder  campion ;  water 
cress;  and  corn-cockle.  These  common  plants, 
which  they  had  trodden  under  foot  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  without  dreaming  that  they 
were  of  any  value,  they  now  learned  to  use  in  a 
variety  of  ways  to  increase  their  comforts  and 
add  to  their  means  of  living. 

These  are  mere  specimens  of  the  various  ways 
in  which  an  acquaintance  with  the  powers  and 
productions  of  nature  may  contribute  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  wealth.  They  are  not  given  as  a  full,  or 
scarcely  a  partial,  illustration  of  the  subject;  but 
they  may  serve  as  a  starting  point  to  the  reader's 
own  reflections,  and  as  landmarks  to  indicate  the 
track  which  his  investigations  must  take  in  order  to 
a  full  and  just  appreciation  of  the  pecuniary  advan- 
tages which  may  accrue  to  a  nation  from  this 
source. 

The  connexion  of  sound  popular  education  with 
the  purity  and  perpetuity  of  its  political  institu- 
tions, was  the  third  consideration  suggested  as 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  89 

Solemn  Trust  Committed  to  our  Citizens.    Influence  of  our  Example. 

showing  that  it  is  the  duty  of  a  free  state  to  make 
adequate  legal  provision  for  the  instruction  of  all 
her  children.  The  discussion  of  this  topic  will 
now  claim  your  attention;  but  only  for  a  very 
brief  space. 

To  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  is  com- 
mitted the  solemn  charge  of  perpetuating  that 
liberty,  and  of  maintaining  those  institutions,  civil, 
social,  literary,  and  religious,  which  it  cost  our 
fathers  so  much  blood  and  treasure  to  establish ; — 
institutions,  which  are  at  once  the  pride  of  our 
own  country  and  the*  hope  of  the  "world.  Yes-^- 
and  I  say  it  in  no  spirit  of  vain-glorious  boasting, 
but  with  a  deep  impression  of  the  responsibility 
which  our  position  involves — we  stand  upon  an 
eminence  such  as  few  nations  have  ever  occupied. 
We  are  as  a  city  set  on  a  hill,  whose  light  cannot 
be  hid.  The  eyes  of  the  world  are  upon  us, — one 
portion  regarding  us  with  anxious  but  trembling 
hope,  the  other  with  a  fiendish  desire  to  see  our 
fair  prospects  blasted,  our  honour  prostrate  in  the 
dust,  and  our  greatness  and  very  existence  among 
the  things  that  were.  Be  assured,  be  assured,  that 
our  fall  will  be  the  triumph  of  despotism,  and  the 
knell  of  liberty  throughout  the  world.  The  same 
pile  of  ruins  in  which  our  constitution  lies  en- 
tombed, will  cover  the  ardent  hopes  and  cherished 
expectations  of  the  friends  of  freedom  every  where. 


90     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Our  Political  Fabric  endangered  by  the  Facility  with  which  Foreigners  Vote, 

To  maintain  our  free  institutions,  then,  and  to 
transmit  them  unimpaired  to  posterity,  is  no  light 
trust,  to  be  committed  to  rash  hands  and  rasher 
heads.  It  is  pregnant  with  the  fate  of  empires. 
In  its  issue,  are  involved,  for  ages  to  come,  the 
happiness  or  misery  of  a  large  portion  of  the 
civilized  world.  It  is  a  trust  most  solemn  in  its 
nature,  and  the  due  execution  of  which  demands, 
in  every  citizen,  knowledge  and  judgment,  as  well 
as  patriotism  and  vigilance. 

It  is  not  to  be  disguised  that  our  political  fabric 
is  encompassed  with  dangers,  and  that  there  are 
elements  of  destruction  at  work  among  us,  which, 
if  left  to  operate  without  check  or  control,  will  ere 
long  cause  it  to  totter  to  its  fall.  I  speak  not  this  as 
a  politician.  .The  dangers  to  which  I  allude  spring 
from  eur  circumstances.  They  are  inherent  in  our 
political  organization  as  a  nation,  and  our  moral 
constitution  as  men.  They  would  therefore  exist, 
whatever  party  might  chance  to  have  the  ascend- 
ancy for  the  time  being.  These  dangers  are  nu- 
merous and  multiform ;  but  the  two  whose  influ- 
ence is  most  to  be  dreaded  are,  in  my  opinion,  the 
facility  with  which  foreigners  are  admitted  to  vote 
at  our  elections,  and  the  loss  of  a  proper  inde- 
pendence of  judgment  and  action  in  our  own  peo- 
ple, and  a  consequent  susceptibility  of  being  sway- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     91 

And  by  the  Want  of  a  Proper  Independence  in  our  own  People. 

ed  to  their  own  hurt  by  artful,  selfish,  and  unprin- 
cipled party  leaders. 

Let  me  here  guard  against  misapprehension  and 
misconstruction.  We  have  had,  and  still  have,  many 
naturalized  citizens,  whose  talents  and  virtues  are 
an  ornament  to  our  country ;  men  of  enlightened 
views  and  ardent  patriotism;  men  sound  to  the  core 
in  their  political  and  moral  principles,  and  forward 
in  every  patriotic  enterprise ;  men,  in  short,  whose 
public  services  are  a  part  of  our  national  glory, 
and  who  are  justly  regarded  as  among  the  pil- 
lars of  the  state.  It  is  not  of  such  that  I  speak. 
I  refer  to  that  overflowing  tide  of  immigration 
which  disgorges  upon  our  shores  its  annual  thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands  of  Europe's  most  de- 
graded population  ;  men  without  knowledge,  with- 
out virtue,  without  patriotism,  and  with  nothing  to 
lose  in  the  issue  of  any  election.  Are  these  per- 
sons fit  depositories  of  political  power?  Have 
they  any  of  that  attachment  to  our  institutions, 
and  that  knowledge  of  our  form  of  government, 
which  are  essential  to  its  safe  exercise?  Surely, 
either  the  honesty  or  the  intelligence  of  the  man 
who  could  maintain  such  a  position,  might  well 
be  questioned.  There  is  danger,  there  must  be 
danger,  impending  over  us  from  this  source,  as 
well  as  from  the  other. 

Now  what  is  the  remedy  for  each?     The  pro- 


92     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Education  the  only  remedy.    Universal  suffrage— a  blessing  or  a  curse. 

per  remedy  against  the  first  mentioned  of  these 
dangers,  would  be  a  change  in  our  naturalization 
laws ;  but  such  a  change  can  scarcely  be  anti- 
cipated. The  only  practicable  antidote  to  this, 
the  only  effectual  safe-guard  against  the  other,  the 
only  sure  palladium  of  our  liberties,  is  in  so  tho- 
rough an  education  of  all  our  own  citizens  as  shall 
nullify  foreign  influence,  so  far  as  it  is  dangerous, 
and  secure  real  personal  independence  in  the  na- 
tives of  the  soil.  Our  very  freedom  will  prove  our 
bane,  unless  the  people,  the  original  source  of  all 
power,  are  so  far  enlightened  as  to  be  able  to 
exercise  the  various  functions  of  power  aright. 
Universal  suffrage,  like  many  other  things  in 
this  contradictory  world,  is  either  a  blessing  or 
a  curse,  according  to  circumstances.  It  is  a 
blessing  to  a  nation  whose  citizens  use  it  with  in- 
telligence ;  it  would  be  a  curse  to  any  people  so  far 
wanting  in  that  attribute  as  to  allow  themselves 
to  be  made  mere  tools  in  the  hands  of  ambitious 
demagogues.  It  is  possible  that  a  nation  may  be  well 
governed,  where  the  body  of  the  people  are  igno- 
rant ;  but  it  must  be  a  government  in  which  the 
people  have  no  voice,  Russia  is  governed  with 
ability,  but  what  imagination  can  paint  the  horrid 
scenes  that  would  ensue  upon  the  sudden  introduc- 
tion there  of  the  right  of  universal  suffrage? 
Freedom  under  such  circumstances  would  be  the 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  93 

Intelligence  and  Virtue  our  only  Safeguard. 

most  terrible  of  curses.  It  would  become  an  in- 
strument of  destruction,  to  be  dreaded  in  propor- 
tion to  the  degree  in  which  it  was  possessed.  No, 
the  ability  to  reflect,  examine,  and  judge,  and  the 
possession  of  elevated  virtue,  each  attainable  for 
the  most  part  only  through  the  instrumentality  of 
education,  are  essential  to  the  safe  enjoyment  and 
useful  exercise  of  the  privileges  of  freemen.  It  is 
a  truth  which  we  all  acknowledge,  but  which  we 
do  not  lay  to  heart  as  we  ought,  that  intelligence 
and  virtue  are  the  bulwarks  of  a  free  government, 
that  education  is  the  parent  of  all  true  personal 
independence,  and  that  in  proportion  to  our  intel- 
lectual and  moral  illumination  will  be  our  chances 
of  surviving,  in  the  vigour  of  perpetual  manhood, 
the  operation  of  those  causes  which  have  under- 
mined all  preceding  republics,  and  which  are  al- 
ready at  work  for  our  ruin.  And  let  it  not  be  for- 
gotten that  the  importance  of  education  is  increas- 
ing every  year  in  proportion  to  the  vast  influx  of 
foreign  voters,  the  increase  of  our  native  popula- 
tion, and  the  expansion  of  our  people  over  a  wider 
territory. 

The  strength  and  permanency  even  of  the  Ce- 
lestial Empire,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  depend 
upon  her  literary  institutions  and  her  various  edu- 
cational establishments.  Behold  the  testimony  of 
a  recent  intelligent  traveller  on  this  point. 


94     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

The  Chinese  Empire  dependent  on  her  Literary  Institutions  for  Strength. 

"  The  Literary  Institutions  of  China,"  says  Mr. 
Roberts,  in  his  embassy  to  the  Eastern  Courts 
of  Cochin  China,  Siam,  and  Muscat,  "  are  the 
pillars  that  give  stability  to  the  government.  Her 
military  forces  are  utterly  inadequate  to  hold  to- 
gether the  numerous  extensive  provinces  and  ter- 
ritories, that  constitute  the  wide  dominions  of  the 
reigning  dynasty.  With  great  difficulty  the  Tar- 
tar troops  overrun  the  country ;  conquering  pro- 
vince after  province,  and  gradually  extending  their 
authority  over  the  territories  on  the  west  of  China 
Proper.  But  for  a  long  period  both  the  discipline 
and  the  energies  of  the  Chinese  soldiery  have  been 
on  the  wane:  and  at  this  moment  the  imperial 
hosts  present  nothing  formidable  but  their  numeri- 
cal amount;  the  recent  insurrections  at  Leen-chow 
and  Formosa,  have  afforded  the  most  complete 
evidence  of  this  imbecility.  Not  only  in  this  part 
of  the  empire,  but  along  the  whole  coast  up  to  the 
great  wall  on  the  north,  and  even  beyond  that  in 
Mantchou  Tartary,  both  the  land  and  naval  forces 
have  become  so  exceedingly  enervated  and  disso- 
lute, that  they  exercise  no  salutary  influence  or 
control,  except  over  a  few,  who  are  equally  de- 
based with  themselves.  As  police-men,  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  lictors.  thief-takers,  and  executioners, 
they  are  not  less  detested  than  feared  by  the  com- 
mon people ;  they  are  in  fact,  for  all  purposes  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     95 

Learning  indispensable  lo  those  who  aspire  to  Places  of  Authority. 

defence,  little  better  than  dead  men;  were  they 
stricken  from  the  catalogue  of  the  living,  we  can 
scarcely  doubt  that  the  stability  of  the  empire 
would  remain  unimpaired. 

"  There  are  many  who  look  with  astonishment 
at  the  magnitude  of  this  empire,  and  believe  it 
strong  and  immovable  as  the  everlasting  hills. 
But  an  examination  of  its  history  and  present 
organization,  would  show  them  that  it  has  been 
frequently  rent  and  broken  by  rebel  chieftains, 
ambitious  statesmen,  and  haughty  kings;  and  that 
its  present  greatness  is  chiefly  attributable  to  its 
peculiar  literary  institutions.  These,  though  they 
are  the  glory  and  strength  of  the  nation,  are,  ex- 
cept for  mere  purposes  of  government,  amazingly 
deficient ;  and  it  is  their  relative,  rather  than  intrin- 
sic value,  that  renders  them  worthy  of  special 
notice.  Wealth  and  patronage  have  great  influ- 
ence here ;  they  often  control  the  acts  of  govern- 
ment, stay  the  course  of  justice,  cover  the  guilty, 
and  confer  honours  and  emoluments  on  the  unde- 
serving. -But  as  a  general  rule,  learning,  while  it 
is  an  indispensable  prerequisite  for  all  those  who 
aspire  to  places  of  trust  and  authority  in  the  state, 
is  sure  to  command  respect,  influence,  and  dis- 
tinction. 

"  Tiius,  without  the  dreadful  alternative  of  over- 
throwing the  powers  that  be,  a  way  is  opened  to 


96      HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

The  most  distinguished  Statesmen  rise  to  Eminence  by  Intellectual  Effort. 

ambitious  youth,  by  which  he  may.  reach  the 
highest  station  in  the  empire;  the  throne  only 
excepted.  Usually  the  most  distinguished  states- 
men are  those  who  have  risen  to  eminence  by 
intellectual  efforts:  they  are  at  once  the  philoso- 
phers, the  teachers,  and  rulers  of  the  land.  These 
distinctions  they  cannot  however  maintain,  with- 
out yielding  implicit  obedience  to  the  will  of  the 
monarch,  which  is  most  absolute  and  uncontrolled. 
Let  them  honour  and  obey  the  power  that  is  over 
them,  and  they  stand;  dependant  indeed  on  the 
one  hand,  but  on  the  other,  in  proud  and  envied 
distinction. 

"  High  rank  in  the  state  is  the  brightest  glory 
to  which  this  people  aspire ;  with  them,  learning 
derives  its  chief  value  from  the  simple  fact,  that 
it  brings  them  within  the  reach  of  that  dazzling 
prize.  Strict  examinations,  regulated  by  a  fixed 
code  of  laws,  have  been  instituted  and  designed 
solely  td  elicit  from  the  body  of  the  community 
the  "  true  talent"  of  the  people,  with  the  ulterior 
intention  of  applying  it  to  purposes  of  government. 
At  these  examinations,  which  are  open  to  all  ex- 
cept menial  servants,  lictors,  players,  and  priests, 
it  is  determined  who  shall  rise  to  distinction  and 
shed  glory  on  their  ancestors  and  posterity — who 
shall  live  on  in  obscurity  and  die  and  be  forgotten. 
The  competitors  of  the  Olympic  games  never  en- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     97 

Lord  Bacon's  celebrated  Aphorism  forcibly  illustrated. 

tered  the  arena  before  the  assembled  thousands  of 
their  countrymen,  with  deeper  emotion  than  that 
which  agitates  the  bosoms  of  those  who  contest 
the  palm  of  these  literary  combats.  The  days  on 
which  they  are  held,  and  their  results  published  in 
Canton,  are  the  proudest  which  its  inhabitants  ever 
witness." 

How  true  is  the  celebrated  aphorism  of  Lord 
Bacon,  that  "  knowledge  is  power !"  It  has  been 
so  in  all  ages  and  in  every  clime.  It  is  a  mighty 
instrument  either  for  good  or  for  evil.  What  a 
noble  incentive  this  to  labour  for  its  acquisition ! 
and  how  fearful  the  responsibility  which  the  pos- 
session of  it  involves ! 

The  Chinese  government,  the  purest  form  of 
despotism  on  earth,  the  slow  growth  of  uncounted 
ages,  is  upheld,  and  its  vigour  perpetuated,  by 
EDUCATION.  How  forcible  the  argument  thence 
derivable  in  favour  of  thi«  exalted  and  exalting 
quality !  And  if  it  has  force  as  applicable  to  such" 
a  country  as  China,  it  applies,  as  the  logicians 
say,  a  fortiori,  to  civil  institutions  based,  as  ours 
are,  on  the  principles  of  freedom  and  equality, 
and  depending,  confessedly,  on  the  intelligence 
and  virtue  of  the  people  for  their  security  and 
vigour. 

Now  to  sum  up.     It  has  been  shown,  I  would 
fain  trust  conclusively,  that  the  prevalence  of  good 
9 


98     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Summing  up  of  the  Argument.    Necessity  of  Popular  Education. 

and  thorough  systems  of  popular  education  in  the 
several  members  of  our  confederacy,  would  exalt 
the  character  of  our  citizens,  and  greatly  augment 
their  happiness  in  their  civil,  domestic,  and  indi- 
vidual relations ;  that  every  new  degree  of  excel- 
lence in  our  primary  schools,  and  every  successive 
approach  towards  perfection  in  the  system  of  edu- 
cation and  universality  in  the  enjoyment  of  its 
benefits,  would  add  millions  to  the  wealth  of  the 
nation  where  it  abstracted  only  thousands;  and 
that  such  education  is  inseparably  connected  with 
the  right  discharge  of  our  duties  as  freemen, 
with  the  perpetuity  of  our  glorious  constitution, 
and  with  the  progress  of  liberal  principles  and  free 
institutions-throughout  the  world. 

These  considerations  must  establish,  if  any  thing 
can,  the  great,  the  paramount,  the  overshadowing 
importance,  nay,  the  absolute  necessity,  of  general 
education  in  a  country  like  ours,  and  consequently 
the  duty  of  the  states  to  make  adequate  provision 
for  it,  and  then  to  watch  that  the  means  adopted 
for  that  purpose  be  faithfully  employed.  For,  it 
would  be  a  position  scarcely  worthy  of  serious 
refutation,  it  would  be  in  contradiction  to  all  the 
lights  of  experience  and  observation,  it  would 
be  little  better  than  trifling,  to  contend  that  educa- 
tion can  become  universal  and  thorough,  in  a 
country  where  the  government  manifests  no  solici- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     99 

Duty  of  Government  in  this  Matter.    Bulwer'a  opinion. 

tude  in  its  behalf,  and  puts  forth  no  exertions  to 
promote  it.* 


*  Mr.  Bulwer,  in  his  work  on  England  and  the  English,  ar- 
gues forcibly  in  support  of  this  position.  He  says: — "Never 
was  this  truth  more  clearly  displayed  than  in  the  state  of  our 
popular  education.  Behold  our  numberless  charities  sown 
through  the  land.  Where  is  their  fruit?  What  better  meant, 
or  what  more  abused  ?  In  no  country  has  the  education  of  the 
poor  been  more  largely  endowed  by  individuals — it  fails — and 
why  ? — BECAUSE  IN  NO  COUNTRY  HAS  IT  BEEN  LESS  REGARDED  BY 

THE  GOVERNMENT." 


100 


CHAPTER  II. 

BRANCHES  OF  STUDY  PROPER  FOR  COMMON 
SCHOOLS. 

Preliminary  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Object  of  Education — 
This  Term,  in  its  broadest  sense,  comprehends  all  the  Influ- 
ences which  act  upon  Man — These  Influences  ranged  by  Fos- 
ter under  five  Heads — A  Sixth  added — Education  produces 
two  classes  of  Effects — Important  in  both  Aspects,  and  why — 
Object  of  Education — Complex  Nature  of  Man  must  be  consi- 
dered— His(  Relations  must  be  understood — These  Relations 
pointed  out — His  Destination — His  Relations  and  Destina- 
tion indicate  the  Education  suited  to  his  Nature — Education 
should  be  such  as  to  develope  our  Powers,  communicate  useful 
Knowledge,  and  form  the  Disposition  and  the  Habit  of  Virtue 
— A  System  of  Popular  Education  should  prescribe  a  Course 
of  Study — Text-Books  prescribed  by  Law  in  Saxe  Weimar — 
Analytical  Description  of  them — Course  of  Study  enjoined  by 
Law  upon  the  Primary  Schools  of  Prussia — The  Prussian  sys- 
tem decried  in  an  Article  in  the  first  Number  of  the  Democra- 
tic Review — Sophistry  of  the  Argument,  and  Illiberality  of 
the  Attack — Our  Common  Schools  compared  with  those  of 
Saxe  Weimar  and  Prussia — Their  Inferiority — Limited  Course 
of  Studies — Superficial  Nature  of  the  Instructions  given — In- 
difference of  Parents — A  Fundamental  Reform  necessary — 
List  of  Studies  should  be  extended — Instruction  should  be 
made  more  thorough — Enumeration  of  Branches  proper  to  be 
introduced  into  Common  Schools — Objection  to  the  Course  re- 
commended "that  it  would  consume  too  much  time,"  answer- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    101 

Education  comprehends  every  Influence  that  modifies  Character. 

ed — The  Author's  Views  confirmed  by  the  Course  of  Study  re- 
commended by  Dick — Necessity  of  Moral  and  Religious  In- 
struction insisted  upon  more  at  large — Religious  Education 
the  Foundation  of  all  good  Character — Essential  to  the  full 
Advantage  of  Intellectual  Education — Objection  to  the  Intro- 
duction of  Religious  Instruction  into  Popular  Schools — Not 
founded  in  Reason — Government  owes  Christianity  a  heavy 
Debt,  and  is  bound,  as  far  as  possible,  to  discharge  it — The 
awakening  of  Sectarian  Jealousies  apprehended — Method  by 
which  these  are  allayed  in  Prussia — Can  it  not  be  done  in  this 
Country  ? — Weight  of  Authority  in  favour  of  Religious  In- 
struction in  Schools — Opinions  of  Simpson,  Bulwer,  Cousin, 
and  Dick,  on  this  Question — The  objection  to  Universal  Edu- 
cation, "  that  it  would  raise  the  Labouring  Classes  above  their 
Sphere,"  considered  and  answered — Objection  to  the  Plan  re- 
commended founded  on  the  Principle  "  that  each  Parent  ought 
to  educate  his  own  Children" — This  Objection  based  on  Sel- 
fishness— A  just  Comprehension  of  the  Selfish  Principle  itself 
refutes  it. 


HAVING  established  this  point,  let  us,  in  the  next 
place,  inquire  what  branches  of  study  it  would  be 
proper  and  desirable  to  introduce  into  a  system  of 
common  school  instruction.  Preliminary  to  this, 
however,  a  brief  inquiry  into  the  nature  and  object 
of  education  may  not  be  out  of  place. 

What,  then,  is  education  ?  And  what  the  main 
object  it  ought  to  aim  to  accomplish  ? 

Education,  in  its  broadest  meaning,  compre- 
hends all  those  influences,  of  whatever  kind,  and 
in  whatsoever  manner  exerted,  which  go  to  form 
9* 


102     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

These  Influences  classified.    Education  produces  two  Classes  of  Effects. 

or  to  modify  human  character.  Foster  has  ranged 
these  influences  under  five  divisions,  which  include 
at  least  the  most  important  of  them  : — viz.  direct 
instruction,  reading,  companionship,  the  scenes  of 
nature,  and  the  state  of  society.  He  might  perhaps 
have  added,  as  the  source  of  a  distinct  class  of  in- 
fluences, though  in  some  sense  included  in  his  clas- 
sification, parental  authority,  and  those  powerful 
home  associations,  which  exert  an  enduring  effect 
on  the  characters  of  most  men,  which  occasion- 
ally stay  the  uplifted  hand  of  the  hardened  sinner, 
and  prevent  the  accomplishment  of  some  deed  of 
meditated  villany,  and  which  sometimes  even  re- 
store to  the  bosom  of  domestic  love,  and  to  the 
hope  of  a  life  to  come,  the  wandering  prodigal, 
who  had  wasted  his  substance  in  riotous  living,  or 
been  driven  from  society  for  his  flagitious  prac- 
tices. 

In  this  sense  the  whole  of  life  is  but  a  long  course 
of  education ;  and  the  church  edifice,  the  hall  of- 
legislation,  the  popular  assembly,  the  theatre,  the 
race-course,  the  bar-room,  the  very  streets  of  our 
cities,  are  as  really  places  of  education,  as  the 
school-room  or  the  college. 

This  complex  training  produces  two  classes  of 
effects :  it  developes  the  physical,  moral,  and  in- 
tellectual powers  of  man ;  and  it  forms  and  ma- 
tures his  habits.  Viewed  in  either  aspect,  it  is  im- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     103 

Impossible  to  overrate  its  Importance.    Why. 

possible  to  overrate  its  importance.  But  why  im- 
possible 1  If  man  were  like  the  brute  that  obeys 
his  superior  intelligence,  born  to  consume  the 
fruits  of  the  earth,  to  flutter  through  his  brief  hour 
of  life,  and  then  to  disappear  entirely  from  the 
scene  of  existence,  to  undergo  a  complete  absorp- 
tion, an  utter  annihilation  of  his  powers  of  enjoy- 
ment and  of  suffering,  sarcasm  might  exhaust  its 
powers  of  ridicule  without  doing  justice  to  the  fol- 
ly of  toiling  for  that  which  we  call  education. 
"  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die," 
would  then  be  a  maxim  embodying  the  very  quint- 
essence of  wisdom  ;  an  aphorism  worthy  of  a  So- 
crates, or  a  Seneca.  No  ;  it  is  the  nature  and  the 
relations  of  man,  his  immortality,  and  his  accoun- 
tability alone,  which  render  his  education  an  affair 
of  the  smallest  moment,  and  these  make  it  a  thing 
not  merely  of  considerable,  but  of  incalculable 
magnitude.  Eternity,  to  borrow  in  part  an  idea 
of  Robert  Hall's,  invests  every  thing  in  any  way 
connected  with  it,  with  a  mysterious  and  awful 
importance,  entirely  its  own,  and  is  the  only  pro- 
perty in  the  creation  which  gives  that  weight  and 
moment  to  whatever  it  attaches,  compared  with 
which  all  interests  which  know  a  period,  fade  in- 
to the  most  contemptible  insignificance. 

These  remarks  lead  us  naturally  to  the  second 
branch  of  our  present  inquiry,  viz.  the  object  of 


104     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Object  of  Education.    Complex  Nature  of  Man  considered. 

education.  In  considering  the  subject  in  this  re- 
lation, it  is  evident  that  we  must  exclude  from  our 
thoughts,  or  at  least  embrace  only  incidentally, 
all  those  classes  of  influences  enumerated  above, 
except  one, — that  is,  those  arising  from  direct  in- 
struction. 

Man  is  a  being  extremely  complex  in  the 
structure  of  his  mind  and  body,  and  having  nume- 
rous relations  both  to  other  beings  of  the  same 
species,  and  to  different  orders  of  the  creation. 
Considered  in  the  former  of  these  respects,  he  pos- 
sesses various  powers,  susceptible  of  a  high  degree 
of  enlargement  <and  cultivation,  but  liable  at  the 
same  time  to  numberless  disorders,  to  temporary 
suspensions  of  their  activity,  to  positive  perversion 
of  their  uses,  and  some  of  them  to  final  extinction. 
Considered  in  the  latter  respect,  he  is  bound  by  a 
variety  of  obligations,  corresponding  to,  or  rather 
arising  from,  the  relations  in  which  he  stands  to 
other  beings.  Considered  in  both  respects — in 
reference  to  his  whole  being — he  has  duties  of  high 
significance  to  perform ;  a  destiny  of  momentous 
import  to  fulfil;  a  race  to  run,  in  which  immortality 
is  the  prize.  The  legitimate  object  of  education, 
and  the  real  one,  when  it  is  not  misdirected  by 
folly,  or  perverted  by  wickedness  to  frivolous  or 
sinister  ends,  is  to  place  man  in  a  condition  in 
which  he  may  most  fully  answer  these  high  pur- 


HINTS  OF  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    105 

I'M iir.-iiii i n  Mis  Man  to  answer  the  ends  of  his  Creation. 

poses  of  his  creation ;  where  he  may  most  readily 
fall  in  with,  and  most  effectually  help  forward,  the 
Divine  intention  concerning  him. 

Now,  in  order  to  accomplish  this,  three  condi- 
tions are  necessary ; — his  powers  must  be  deve- 
loped, his  mind  stored  with  knowledge,  and  his 
habits  formed  to  industry  and  virtue.  This  is  ob- 
vious; but  it  does  not  yet  appear  what  exactly 
ought  to  be  the  character  of  the  developement,  the 
knowledge,  and  the  habits  referred  to.  In  order 
to  determine  this  question,  his  powers,  his  relations, 
and  his  destination  must  be  understood.  The  first 
mentioned  of  these  properties  belong  to  the  depart- 
ment of  the  physiologist  and  the  metaphysician, 
the  second  to  that  of  the  moral  philosopher,  and 
the  third  to  that  of  the  minister  of  religion ;  but  all 
fall  fairly  within  the  province  of  the  educationist. 
The  first,  however,  we  shall  pass  by  as  not  parti- 
cularly pertinent  to  our  present  aim.  Let  us 
briefly  inquire  into  the  two  latter. 

What  are  the  most  important  of  those  relations 
which  man,  as  a  rational  and  moral  creature,  sus- 
tains to  other  beings  1  First  in  the  order  of  time, 
and  most  momentous  in  their  consequences,  are 
those  in  which  he  stands  to  the  Creator,  as  his  off- 
spring, his  beneficiary,  his  revolted  subject,  and 
that  new  relation  of  gracious  fellowship  and  son- 
ship  created  by  the  stupendous  phenomenon  of 


106          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Man's  Relations  explained.    His  Immortal  Destination. 

mediatorial  and  redeeming  love.  Next  come  his 
complex  and  multiplied  relations  to  his  fellow  man, 
embracing  those  which  he  bears  to  the  great  bro- 
therhood of  humanity,  the  country  to  which  he 
owes  allegience,  the  neighbourhood  which  is  the 
sphere  of  his  more  immediate  influence,  and  the 
domestic  circle  of  which  he  forms  a  part,  either  as 
head  or  member;  each  class  of  relations  involving 
a  distinct  class  of  obligations,  and  the  whole  com- 
prehending a  range  of  duties,  differing  indeed  in 
importance,  but  none  of  them  unimportant,  and, 
in  the  aggregate,  demanding  unwearied  diligence 
and  the  utmost  exertion  of  his  powers.  Then  fol- 
low his  relations  to  the  inferior  orders  of  animated 
existence,  and  to  the  powers  and  productions  of 
inanimate  nature.  These  do  not  perhaps  impose 
any  positive  duties  upon  him,  except  that  of  treat- 
ing with  humanity  all  that  has  life ;  but — and  this 
is  a  consideration  of  far  greater  consequence — 
they  are  capable,  if  rightly  understood,  of  render- 
ing him  most  essential  aid  in  the  performance  of 
his  other  duties. 

What  is  the  destination  of  man  ?  It  is  needless 
to  waste  words  in  replying  to  this  question.  True, 
the  immortality  of  the  soul  may  be  demonstrated 
by  the  naked  powers  of  reason,  and  even  the  doc- 
trine of  a  future  retribution  strongly  inferred  from 
facts  and  principles  within  our  reach,  apart  from 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          1Q7 

Development  of  bis  Powers.    Attainment  of  Knowledge.    Habits. 

any  communication  from  Heaven.  But  Divine 
Revelation  has  saved  us  the  necessity  of  doing 
this.  On  its  every  page  IMMORTALITY  AND  JUDG- 
MENT TO  COME  stand  out  in  letters  of  light.  It 
teaches  us  further  that  this  world  is  a  place  of 
trial  and  training  for  the  next,  and  that  our  cha- 
racters here  will  determine  our  destiny  there. 

Are  not  these  views  pertinent  to  our  present 
inquiry  ?  Do  they  not  throw  light  upon  the  point 
under  consideration  ?  Do  they  not,  in  fact,  clearly 
point  out  and  define  the  object  which  education 
ought  to  propose  to  accomplish  ? — viz.  such  a  de- 
velopement  of  our  powers,  animal  and  rational, 
the  attainment  of  such  and  so  much  knowledge, 
and  the  formation  of  such  habits,  as  far  as  circum- 
stances will  permit,  as  will  fit  us  to  discharge  most 
successfully  and  usefully  the  various  duties  which 
our  relations  impose  upon  us.  In  other  words, 
and  more  specifically,  the  object  of  education  is, 
or  should  be,  to  make  man  reflective,  moral,  pru- 
dent, healthy,  industrious,  skilful  in  business,  inde- 
pendent in  feeling,  and  truly  religious. 

A  state  has  not  done  all  its  duty  in  regard  to 
education,  when  it  has  established  schools  and 
made  provision  for  their  support ;  nor  even  when 
it  has  provided  good  teachers  and  established  an 
organization  that  ensures  a  faithful  discharge  of 
duty  in  the  various  functionaries  employed.  No 


108    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Course  of  Study  should  be  prescribed.  First  Class-book  in  Saxe  Weimar. 

system  of  popular  education  can  be  considered  as 
at  all  perfect,  which  does  not  prescribe,  I  do  not. 
say,  the  particular  books  to  be  used,  or  the  speci- 
fic methods  of  instruction,  but  at  least  some  gene- 
ral outline  of  the  course  of  study  to  be  pursued — 
the  branches  of  knowledge  to  be  communicated. 
This  is  done  in  those  European  states,  where  the 
instruction  of  the  people  is  made  an  affair  of  go- 
vernment. In  the  Grand  Duchy  of  Saxe  Weimar, 
even  "the  class-books  are  prescribed,  the  same  be- 
ing used  in  all  the  primary  schools  throughout  the 
realm.  Permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  these 
books.  They  are  four  in  number,  and  of  the  fol- 
lowing purport : — 

The  first  class-book  is  destined  for  the  youngest 
children ;  it  contains,  in  regular  gradations,  the 
composition  of  syllables,  punctuation,  elementary 
formation  of  language,  simple  stories,  sentences  or 
proverbs  of  one  verse  or  upwards,  diverse  selec- 
tions, sketches,  &c.  "  The  sentences,"  says  Mr. 
Cousin,  "  struck  me  particularly  ;  they  contain,  in 
the  most  agreeable  shapes,  the  most  valuable  les- 
sons, which  the  author  classes  under  systematic 
titles,  such  as,  our  duties  to  ourselves,  our  duties 
to  men,  our  duties  to  God,  and  the  knowledge  of 
his  divine  attributes, — so  that,  in  the  germ  of  lite- 
rature, the  infant  receives  also  the  germ  of  morals 
and  of  religion." 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          1Q9 

The  Second  and  Third  Class-Books  in  Saxe  Weimar. 

The  second  book,  for  the  use  of  children  from 
eight  to  ten,  is  not  composed  merely  of  amusing 
sketches, — the  author  touches  upon  matters  of  ge- 
neral utility.  He  proceeds  on  the  just  idea  that 
the  knowledge  of  the  faculties  of  the  soul  ought  a 
little  to  precede  the  more  profound  explanations 
of  religion  :  under  the  head  of  dialogue  between 
a  father  and  his  children,  the  book  treats,  first,  of 
man  and  his  physical  qualities ;  secondly,  of  the 
nature  of  the  soul  and  of  its  faculties,  with  some 
notions  of  our  powers  of  progressive  improvement 
and  our  heritage  of  immortality ;  and,  thirdly,  it 
contains  the  earliest  and  simplest  elements  of  na- 
tural history,  botany,  mineralogy,  &c. 

The  third  work  contains  two  parts,  each  divided 
into  two  chapters.  The  first  part  is  an  examina- 
tion of  man  as  a  rational  animal, — it  involves  these 
questions  :  What  am  I  ?  What^am  I  able  to  do  1 
What  ought  I  to  do?  It  teaches  the  distinction  be- 
tween men  and  brutes,  instinct  and  reason;  it 
endeavours  to  render  the  great  moral  foundations 
of  truth  clear  and  simple,  by  familiar  images  and 
the  most  intelligible  terms. 

As  the  first  chapter  of  this  portion  exercises  the 
more  reflective  faculties,  so  the  second  does  not 
neglect  the  more  acute,  and  comprises  songs, 
enigmas,  fables,  aphorisms,  &c. 

The  second  part  of  the  third  work  contains, 
10 


110          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

The  Fourth.    Elementary  Schools  of  Prussia. 

first,  the  elements  of  natural  history,  in  all  its  sub- 
divisions, notions  of  geography,  of  the  natural 
rights  of  man,  of  his  civil  rights  ;  with  some  les- 
sons of  general  history.  An  appendix  comprises 
the  geography  and  especial  history  of  Saxe  Wei- 
mar. 

The  fourth  book,  not  adapted  solely  for  Saxe 
Weimar,  is  in  great  request  throughout  all  Ger- 
many. It  addresses  itself  to  the  more  advanced 
pupils.  It  resembles,  a  little,  the  work  last  de- 
scribed, but  is  more  extensive  on  some  points.  It 
is  equally  various,  but  it  treats  in  especial  more 
minutely  on  the  rights  and  duties  of  subjects;  it 
proceeds  to  conduct  the  boy,  already  made  ra- 
tional as  a  being,  to  his  duties  as  a  citizen. 

Such  are  the  four  class-books  in  the  popular 
schools  of  Saxe  Weimar.  Such  is  the  foundation 
of  that  united,  intellectual,  and  lofty  spirit  which 
marks  the  subjects  of  that  principality.* 

In  Prussia,  a  country  which  exhibits  the  extra- 
ordinary spectacle  of  a  despotic  government  and 
the  most  paternal  anxiety,  as  well  as  the  wisest 
plan,  for  the  education  of  all  the  people,  the  popu- 
lar schools  are  divided  into  two  classes, — termed 
elementary  schools,  and  burgher  schools.  The 

*  SeeBulw  er's  England  and  the  English,  Book  II.,  Chap.  3. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     m 

Course  of  Study  traced  out  and  enjoined  by  Law. 

text-books  in  these  schools  are  not  prescribed,  but 
the  course  of  study  is  traced  out  and  enjoined 
by  law. 

The  law  thus  summarily  sets  forth  the  object  of 
the  national  education,  and  the  branches  of  know- 
ledge it  must  include : — "  To  develope  the  faculties 
of  the  soul,  the  reason,  the  senses,  and  the  physical 
frame.  It  shall  embrace  religion  and  morals,  the 
knowledge  of  size  and  numbers,  of  nature  and  of 
man,  the  exercises  of  the  body,  vocal  music,  draw- 
ing, and  writing."  It  then  goes  on  in  detail  as 
follows : — 

Every  elementary  school  includes  necessarily 
the  following  objects : 

Religious  instruction  for  the  formation  of  mo- 
rality, according  to  the  positive  truths  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

The  language  of  the  country. 

The  elements  of  geometry  and  the  general  prin- 
ciples of  drawing. 

Practical  arithmetic. 

The  elements  of  physical  philosophy,  of  geo- 
graphy, of  general  history ;  but  especially  the  his- 
tory of  the  pupil's  own  country.  These  branches 
of  knowledge  to  be  taught  and  retaught  as  often 
as  possible,  by  the  opportunities  afforded  in  learn- 
ing to  read  and  write,  independently  of  the  parti- 
cular and  special  lessons  given  upon  those  subjects. 


112          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Burgher  Schools.    Studies  pursued  in  them. 

The  art  of  song — to  develope  the  voice  of  chil- 
dren, to  elevate  their  minds,  and  to  improve  and 
ennoble  both  popular  and  sacred  melodies. 

Writing  and  the  gymnastic  exercises,  which 
fortify  all  our  senses,  especially  that  of  sight. 

The  more  simple  of  the  manual  arts,  and  some 
instructions  upon  manual  labour. 

In  the  burgher  schools,  are  taught,  conform- 
ably to  the  provisions  of  the  law,  the  following 
branches : 

Religion  and  morals. 

The  national  tongue;  reading,  composition,  ex- 
ercises of  style  and  of  the  invention ;  the  study  of 
the  national  classics. 

Latin  is  taught  to  all  children,  under  certain 
limitations,  in  order  to  exercise  their  understand- 
ings ;  even  whether  or  not  they  are  destined  to 
advance  to  the  higher  schools,  or  to  proceed,  at 
once,  to  their  professions  or  trades. 

The  elements  of  mathematics,  and  an  accurate 
and  searching  study  of  practical  arithmetic. 

Physical  philosophy,  so  far  as  the  more  import- 
ant phenomena  of  nature  are  concerned. 

Geography  and  history  combined,  so  as  to  give 
the  pupil  a  knowledge  of  the  divisions  of  the  earth, 
and  of  the  history  of  the  world.  Prussia,  its  his- 
tory, laws,  and  constitution,  shall  be  the  object  of 
especial  study. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  H3 

This  Education  given  by  Prussia  to  all  her  Children. 

The  principles  of  drawing,  at  all  occasions. 

Writing,  singing,  and  gymnastic  exercises. 

"  Such,"  says  the  author  of  England  and  the 
English,  "  is  the  programme  of  the  education  of 
elementary  schools  in  Prussia ;  an  education  that 
exercises  the  reason,  enlightens  the  morals,  forti- 
fies the  body,  and  founds  the  disposition  to  labour 
and  independence.  This  is  the  education  given 
by  Prussia  to  all  her  children.  Observe,  here  is  no 
theory — no  programme  of  untried  experiments: 
this  is  the  actual  education,  actually  given,  and 
actually  received.  It  is  computed  that  thirteen 
out  of  fifteen  children,  from  the  age  of  seven  to 
that  of  fourteen,  are  at  the  public  schools;  the 
remaining  two  are  probably  at  the  private  schools, 
or  educated  at  home ;  so  that  the  whole  are  edu- 
cated— and  thus  educated !  Observe,  this  is  no 
small  and  petty  state,  easily  managed  and  con- 
trolled; it  is  a  country  that  spreads  over  large 
tracts,  various  tribes,  different  languages,  multi- 
form religions:  the  energy  of  good  government 
has  conquered  all  these  difficulties.  But  what, 
Sir,*  you  will  admire  in  the  Prussian  system,  is 
not  the  laws  of  education  only,  but  the  spirit  that 
framed  and  pervades  the  laws — the  full  apprecia* 


*  Dr.  Chalmers  is  the  gentleman  here  addressed, 
10* 


114  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Prussian  System  of  Education  decried  in  the  Democratic  Beview. 

lion  of  the  dignity  and  objects  of  men — of  the 
duties  of  citizens — of  the  powers,  and  equality, 
and  inheritance  of  the  human  soul.  And  yet  in 
that  country  the  people  are  said  to  be  less  free 
than  in  ours ! — how  immeasurably  more  the  peo- 
ple are  regarded  /" 

There  is  an  article  in  the  first  number  of  a 
literary  journal,  recently  established  at  the  City 
of  Washington,  in  which  the  Prussian  system  is 
attacked  and  decried  as  in  no  respect  suited  to  this 
country,  because,  forsooth,  Prussia  is  a  monarchy ! 
If  the  writer  of  said  article  means  by  this  that  it  is 
not  adapted  to  our  use,  because  it  teaches  the  laws 
and  constitution  of  Prussia,  so  far  I  agree  with 
him ;  but  if  he  means  that  the  great  principle  which 
is  recognised  as  the  basis  of  the  system — viz.  the 
necessity  of  a  thorough  education  of  all  the  people 
— and  the  wisdom  and  liberality  with  which  that 
principle  is  carried  out  in  its  application,  are  at 
war  either  with  our  interests  or  our  institutions, 
then,  gentlemen,  your  own  good  sense  shall  be  my 
only  argument  to  refute  him.  I  forbear  to  cha- 
racterise his  sophistry  in  the  terms  which  it  richly 
merits.  Seme  good  things  can  come  out  of  Na- 
zareth. Let  us  not  be  guilty  of  the  flagrant  illi- 
berality  of  refusing  to  applaud  and  to  imitate  what 
is  intrinsically  excellent,  because  it  happens  to  have 
originated  with  monarchists  instead  of  republicans, 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 


Inferiority  of  our  Schools.    Bulwer's  Account  of  English  Schools. 

and  to  exist  on  the  southern  coast  of  the  Baltic  in- 
stead of  the  western  shores  of  the  Atlantic  ocean. 

How  poor  and  meager,  in  comparison  with  the 
education  which  Prussia  and  Saxe  Weimar  give 
to  all  their  children,  is  that  afforded  by  the  gene- 
rality of  our  common  schools  !  Bulwer's  descrip- 
tion of  the  state  of  things  in  the  elementary  schools 
of  England,  is  much  more  applicable  to  ours.  — 
"  Generally,"  says  he,  "  throughout  the  primary 
schools,  nothing  is  taught  but  a  little  spelling,  a 
very  little  reading,  still  less  writing,  the  catechism, 
the  Lord's  prayer,  and  an  unexplained,  uneluci- 
dated  chapter  or  two  in  the  Bible;  add  to  these 
the  nasal  mastery  of  a  hymn,  and  an  undecided 
conquest  over  the  rule  of  Addition,  and  you  behold 
a  very  finished  education  of  the  poor." 

I  would  not  indulge  in  sarcasm,  or  be  unjust,  on 
such  a  subject  as  this.  Even  were  I  so  disposed 
myself  (which  I  am  not),  I  am  sure  such  a  course 
would  not  meet  with  your  approbation.  I  am  free 
to  admit,  therefore,  that  this  would  not  be  a  fair 
picture  of  our  popular  schools.  Nevertheless, 
what  do  these  institutions  actually  accomplish  in 
the  way  of  disciplining  the  powers  of  their  pupils, 
and  imparting  knowledge?  It  would  scarcely  be 
unfair  to  say  that,  in  a  large  proportion  of  them,  the 
faculty  of  observation  and  comparison  is  not  de- 
veloped, nor  the  art  of  reflection  taught,  at  all.  And 


116           HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

List  of  Studies  pursued  in  our  Schools.    Wherein  deficient. 

as  to  the  knowledge  they  communicate,  reading, 
spelling,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography,  and  gram- 
mar, form  generally  the  entire  catalogue  of  studies 
in  their  courses  of  instruction.  In  reference  to 
many  of  them  even  this  list  must  be  abridged,  and  in 
respect  to  still  more,  the  branches  enumerated  are 
both  imperfectly  taught,  and  pursued  to  a  very  in- 
considerable extent.  The  dignity  of  man,  the 
powers  of  the  human  soul,  the  education  of  the 
senses,  our  rights  and  duties  as  men  and  citizens, 
and  the  works  of  the  Creator  by  which  we  are 
surrounded,  are  subjects  which,  as  you  well  know, 
are  never  dreamed  of  in  the  philosophy  of  most  of 
our  primary  schoolmasters.  The  masters  them- 
selves are  for  the  most  part  ignorant  on  these 
points,  and  multitudes  of  parents  would  oppose 
their  introduction  into  school  as  branches  of  study. 
I  have  even  heard  of  a  father  who  objected  to  his 
children  learning  geography,  on  the  sage  ground 
that  he  did  not  learn  it  himself,  and  had  never  felt 
the  want  of  it!  Yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  we 
are  apt  to  think  and  speak  of  our  common  schools 
as  superior  to  those  of  all  other  countries;  and 
even  Mr.  Dick  has  been  imposed  upon  by  our 
boastings,  and  assigns  us  the  first  place  in  this 
respect,  in  his  work  on  the  Mental  Illumination 
and  Moral  Improvement  of  Mankind.  The  state- 
ments made  a  little  above,  respecting  the  schools  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    1 17 

Our  good  Opinion  of  ourselves.    It  is  a  flattering  Delusion. 

Saxe  Weimar  and  Prussia,  must  convince  all,  who 
are  not  steeled  against  conviction,  that  this  opinion 
is  but  a  flattering  delusion,  the  offspring  of  an  un- 
founded and  overweening  self-complacency.* 


*  The  following  view  is  given  by  Mr.  Simpson  of  the  "  edu- 
cation of  the  humble  classes"  in  England  and  Scotland.  With 
some  abatements,  it  is  applicable  to  a  large  portion  of  the  schools 
in  this  country.  I  give  the  extract,  for  the  soundness  of  its  doc- 
trines, beseeching  all  to  read  and  ponder  it  thoroughly : — "  But 
we  come  to  the  question,  what  is  the  nature  of  the  education  of 
the  humbler  classes  which  is  extending  in  England,  and  has  been 
so  long  established  in  Scotland  ?  Is  it  of  a  kind  to  impart  useful 
practical  knowledge  for  resource  in  life — does  it  communicate  to 
the  pupil  any  light  upon  the  important  subject  of  his  own  nature 
and  place  in  creation, — on  the  conditions  of  his  physical  welfare, 
and  his  intellectual  and  moral  happiness ; — does  it,  above  all, 
make  an  attempt  to  regulate  his  passions,  and  train  and  exercise 
his  moral  feelings,  to  prevent  his  prejudices,  suspicions,  envying, 
self-conceit,  vanity,  impracticability,  destructiveness,  cruelty,  and 
sensuality  ?  Alas !  No.  It  teaches  him  to  READ,  WRITE,  and 
CIPHER,  and  leaves  him  to  pick  up  all  the  rest  as  he  may !  It 
forms  an  instructive  example  of  the  sedative  effect  of  established 
habits  of  thinking,  that  our  ancestors  and  ourselves  have  so  con- 
tentedly held  THIS  to  be  education,  or  the  shadow  of  it,  for  any 
rank  of  society  !  Reading,  writing,  and  ciphering,  are  mere  in- 
struments ;  when  attained,  as  they  rarely  or  never  are,  after  all, 
by  the  working  class  to  a  reasonable  perfection,  they  leave  the 
pupil  exactly  in  the  situation  where  he  would  find  himself,  were 
we  to'put  tools  into  his  hands,  the  use  of  which,  however,  he  must 
learn  as  he  may.  We  know  well  that  he  will  be  much  more 
prone  to  misapply  his  tools,  and  to  cut  himself  with  them,  than 
to  use  them  aright.  So  it  is  with  his  reading;  for  really  any 


118  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Necessity  of  a  radical  Reform  of  our  Common  Schools. 

There  is  need  of  a  fundamental  reform  of  our 
common   schools   with  respect  to  the    branches 


writing  and  accounting  of  this  class,  even  the  most  respectable 
of  them,  scarcely  deserve  the  name,  and  may  be  here  put  out  of 
the  account.  Reading  consists  in  the  recognition  of  printed 
characters  arranged  into  syllables  and  words.  With  this  most 
abstract  accomplishment  may  coexist  unregulated  propensities, 
selfish  passions,  sensual  appetites,  filthy  and  intemperate  habits, 
profound  intellectual  darkness  and  moral  debasement,  all  adher- 
ing to  a  man  as  closely  after  as  before  he  could  read ;  and,  be  it 
remarked,  these  qualities  will  give  their  bias  to  his  future  volun- 
tary reading,  and  assuredly  degrade  and  vitiate  its  character ;  it 
will  tend  to  strengthen  his  prejudices,  deepen  his  superstitions, 
flatter  his  passions,  and  excite  his  animal  appetites.  Well  is  all 
this  known  to  the  agitator,  the  quack,  and  the  corruptor.  They 
know  that  the  manual-labourer  can  read ;  but  they  know,  as  well, 
that  he  is  incapable  of  thinking,  or  detecting  their  impositions, 
if  they  only  flatter  his  passions.  No  just  views  of  life  have  ever 
been  given  him,  no  practical  knowledge  of  his  actual  position  in 
the  social  system.  We  are  always  told  that  the  majority  of 
criminals  cannot  read,  as  if  the  [mere  faculty  of  reading  would 
have  diminished  the  number  of  criminals.  This  is  a  great  de- 
lusion. For  the  reasons  I  have  stated,  mere  reading  might  have 
increased  the  number  of  criminals,  it  would  be  quite  ineffective 
in  diminishing  them.  But  if  the  investigation  had  gone  the 
length  of  ascertaining  with  which  of  the  criminals  had  an  at- 
tempt at  moral  training  and  useful  knowledge  ever  been  made, 
we  should  have  found  that  column  of  the  table  a  blank,  and 
something  like  cause  and  effect  would  begin  to  dawn  upon  us. 
It  is  needless  to  pursue  so  obvious  a  matter  further.  If  a  na- 
tional system  of  education  is  to  stop  at  reading,  writing,  and 
ciphering,  it  would  save  much  trouble  and  after  disappointment 
not  to  attempt  it  at  all." 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          H9 

List  of  Studies  should  be  enlarged.    Instruction  made  more  thorough. 

taught  in  them.  The  list  of  studies  should  include 
many  now  entirely  omitted,  and  those  already 
embraced  in  it  ought  to  be  pursued  far  beyond 
•what  they  are  at  present.  The  right  which,  as 
American  citizens,  we  most  value,  is  the  elective 
franchise ;  but  how  can  this  right  be  usefully  ex- 
ercised, unless  those  who  enjoy  it  possess  some 
knowledge  of  general  history,  and  especially  of 
the  history  and  constitution  of  their  own  country  ? 
But  this  knowledge,  if  possessed  at  all,  must,  as  a 
general  thing,  be  acquired  at  school;  at  least  the 
foundation  of  it  must  be  laid  there.  But  not  only 
should  all  the  youth  of  our  land  learn  so  much  of 
the  history  of  other  times  and  nations,  and  of  the 
history,  constitution,  and  laws  of  their  own  coun- 
try, as  will  enable  them  to  exercise  the  right  of 
suffrage  wisely;  they  ought  also  to  form  some 
acquaintance  with  the  manifold  and  wonderful 
works  of  the  Creator.  The  elements  of  natural 
history,  botany,  mineralogy,  chemistry,  anatomy, 
physiology,  and  physical  philosophy,  when  taught 
with  sensible  illustrations  and  appropriate  experi- 
ments, are  all  perfectly  level  to.  the  understanding 
of  children,  and  admirably  adapted  to  develope 
their  faculties  of  observation  and  reason,  to  excite 
a  thirst  for  knowledge,  to  form  them  to  habits  of 
reflection,  and  to  awaken  in  their  souls,  ere  yet 
the  well-springs  of  life  have  been  poisoned,  those 


120          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Enumeration  of  Studies.    Christian  Rcl.gion  indispensable. 

sentiments  of  piety,  which  are  the  brightest  or- 
nament, as  they  are  the  sweetest  consolation, 
of  our  degenerate  nature.  Vocal  music,  draw- 
ing, public  and  domestic  economy,  agriculture, 
and  some  of  the  manual  arts,  ought  severally 
to  receive  their  share  of  attention  from  the  pu- 
pils. The  girls  ought  to  have  specific  instruc- 
tions given  them,  adapted  to  prepare  them  for 
their  peculiar  duties  as  wives  and  mothers.  To 
all  this  should  be  added  some  elementary  know- 
ledge of  the  powers  and  susceptibilities  of  their 
own  minds,  especially  of  their  power  of  progres- 
sive improvement  in  knowledge  and  goodness; 
some  instruction  on  the  true  relations  of  their  na- 
ture, and  the  duties  originating  in  them;  and  some 
general  notion  of  the  evidences  on  which  the  truth 
of  that  religion  rests,  around  which  cling  their 
hopes  of  immortality.  And  religion  itself — not  the 
peculiar  dogmas  of  some  favourite  sect — but  the 
pure,  ennobling,  life-giving  principle  of  Christiani- 
ty, as  set  forth  in  the  teachings  and  lives  of  Christ 
and  his  Apostles,  and  recorded  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, must  form  the  body  and  the  spirit,  the  cen- 
tre and  the  circumference,  the  beginning,  the  mid- 
dle, and  the  end  of  every  wise  system  of  popular 
education. 

It  would  swell  this  volume  to  a  size  altogether 
beyond  my  intentions,  to  enter  into  a  full  analysis  of 
these  various  branches  of  knowledge,  a  lengthen- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    121 

Objection  to  this  view  of  what  Popular  Education  ought  to  be  answered. 

ed  explanation  of  their  importance  to  every  human 
being,  and  a  laboured  defence  of  them  as  applica- 
ble to  the  use  and  purposes  of  common  schools. 
The  author  believes,  however,  that  it  would  not 
be  difficult  to  present  such  an  exposition  of  these 
matters  as  would  convince  all  candid  men  of  the 
soundness  of  his  opinions  respecting  the  course  of 
study  appropriate  for  popular  seminaries. 

It  may  be  objected  to  the  view  here  given  of 
what  the  education  of  the  people  ought  to  be,  that 
it  would  require  too  much  of  the  pupil's  time.  The 
objection  is  not  without  a  show  of  reason,  but  it 
will  hardly  bear  examination.  It  must  be  borne 
in  mind,  first,  that,  in  order  to  carry  these  views 
into  effect,  a  body  of  well  trained  and  experienced 
teachers  will  be  necessary,  and  that  more  can  be 
learned  in  one  year  under  a  good  instructor,  than 
in  three  or  four  with  a  poor  one ;  secondly,  that, 
by  the  expulsion  of  ill-judged  books  of  extracts, 
and  the  substitution  of  books  prepared  upon  more 
philosophical  principles,  several  of  these  branches 
might  be  taught  in  part  incidentally,  while  the  pu- 
pil was  learning  to  read  ;  and,  thirdly,  that  it  is  no 
part  of  the  plan  to  make  of  the  labouring  classes 
statesmen,  theologians,  or  philosophers,  but  simply 
to  lay  the  foundation,  in  sound  elementary  know- 
ledge, of  a  superstructure  afterwards  to  be  reared, 
suited  to  the  conditions  of  our  being,  in  harmony 
11 


122     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

These  views  not  visionary  nor  impracticable. 

with  the  divine  purpose,  and  worthy  of  the  end  for 
which  we  were  created.  Besides.  Gentlemen,  shall 
it  be  said  that  the  children  of  freemen,  to  every 
one  of  whom  the  highest  honours  of  his  country 
are  open,  cannot  devote  as  much  time  to  the  culti- 
vation of  their  minds  and  to  preparation  for  the  du- 
ties of  life,  as  the  children  of  despotic  govern- 
ments ?  Away  with  such  a  plea !  It  is  a  foul 
calumny  on  our  institutions.  But  I  would  be  will- 
ing to  compromise  for  a  course  of  common  school 
instruction,  as  comprehensive  as  that  of  Prussia  or 
Saxe  Weimar. 

Some  persons,  whose  notions  of  the  appropriate 
studies  of  common  schools  are  more  or  less  affect- 
ed by  their  present  low  and  imperfect  standard, 
may  be  surprised  at  the  extent  of  the  course  here  ' 
recommended,  and  may  charge  me  with  entertain- 
ing visionary  and  impracticable  views.     To  such 
I  shall  appear  as  one  that  dreams,  or  like  the  child, 
who,  with  mimic  industry,  constructs  his  house  of 
blocks  for  the  idle  pleasure  of  seeing  it  fall  in 
pieces  again.     I  do  not  fear  any  such  feeling  as 
this  on  your  part,  but  for  the  satisfaction  of  these 
persons,  and  to  show  them  that  wiser  and  better 
men  dream  in  the  same  way,  I  ask  their  attention 
to  the  branches  of  learning  recommended  by  Dick, 
who  has  written  much  and  well  on  education,  as 
proper  to  be  introduced  into  all  popular  schools  ; 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    133 

Course  of  Studies  recommended  by  Mr.  Dick  for  Common  Schools. 

some  of  them,  however,  of  course,  only  in  their 
elementary  principles.  They  are  English  reading, 
writing,  and  composition;  drawing,  arithmetic, 
grammar,  geography,  geology,  astronomy,  expe- 
rimental philosophy  and  chemistry,  mathematics, 
physiology,  the  art  of  reasoning,  natural  theology, 
natural  history,  vocal  music,  public  and  domestic 
economy,  morality  and  religion.*  Those  who 
would  see  these  studies  defended  at  length,  and 
their  adaptation  to  the  purposes  of  general  educa- 
tion shown,  are  referred  to  the  sixth  and  seventh 
chapters  of  the  Mental  Illumination  and  Moral 
Improvement  of  Mankind.  For  myself,  I  am  firm- 
ly persuaded  that,  until  something  like  the  course 
of  study  I  have  traced  out  shall  be  generally  adopt- 
ed, or  at  least,  until  their  senses,  their  reflective 
powers,  and  their  moral  feelings  shall  be  educated, 
in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term,  our  hardy  yeoman- 
ry, the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  land,  will  never  reach 
that  mental  and  moral  elevation  which  every  hu- 
man being  ought  to  obtain,  and  which  is,  in  anes- 


*  Permit  me,  Gentlemen,  to  call  your  attention  to  a  remarkable 
omission  here,  whether  it  is  the  result  of  accident  or  design. 
Civil  history  is  not  so  much  as  alluded  to  in  this  enumeration. 
Mr.  Dick  could  not  have  intended  to  exclude  it  altogether.  I  in- 
cline to  the  opinion  that  it  is  a  mere  oversight,  though  certainly 
a  very  extraordinary  one. 


124     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Necessity  of  intrurtucing  Religious  Instruction  into  all  Schools. 

pecial  manner,  demanded  by  their  peculiar  rela- 
tions to  our  free  civil  institutions. 

I  have  expressed  the  opinion,  a  very  sincere 
one  on  my  part,  that  no  system  of  popular  educa- 
tion can  be  deemed  perfect,  or  adequate  to  the 
wants  of  a  free  state,  which  does  not  prescribe 
and  render  obligatory  the  course  of  studies  to  be 
pursued  in  the  schools  which  it  calls  into  being. 
You  will  have  observed  also  that  I  have  strenu- 
ously urged  the  necessity  of  introducing  religious 
instruction  into  schools,  and  making  the  study 
of  Christian  duties  a  part  of  the  prescribed  course. 

All  experience  demonstrates  that  the  temporal 
well-being  of  individuals,  as  of  nations,  is  by  no 
means  secured  by  a  great  intellectual  developement 
and  a  refined  civilization.  The  true  honour  of  an 
individual,  as  of  a  people,  depends  on  a  severe 
morality,  on  self-control,  on  humility  and  modera- 
tion, and  on  the  voluntary  performance  of  all  his 
duties  towards  God  and  towards  his  fellow-crea- 
tures. Religious  and  moral  education  is  conse- 
quently the  first  want  of  the  people.  When  this 
is  deficient,  all  other  education  is  often  not  only 
without  real  advantage,  but  it  is  in  some  respects 
even  dangerous.*  If,  on  the  other  hand,  a  good 


*  "  The  Duke  of  Wharton ;  Wilmot,  Earl  of  Rochester ; 
Villers,  Duke  of  Buckingham;  and   Mirabeau,  were  in   their 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  135 

Religion  a  necessary  foundation  of  good  Character. 

foundation  of  character  has  been  laid  in  religious 
education,  intellectual  education  will  then  be  of 
the  greatest  advantage ;  and  it  ought  the  less  to 
be  withheld  from  the  people,  inasmuch  as  the 
Creator  has  given  them  the  faculty  and  the  dispo- 
sition to  acquire  it,  and  the  developement  of  all  the 
powers  of  man  puts  him  in  possession  of  the  means 
of  arriving  at  the  highest  degree  of  perfection,  and 
consequently  of  securing  the  greatest  amount  of 
happiness,  attainable  in  his  present  state. 

These  views  will  not  be  contested.  There  is  an 
almost  perfect  unanimity  of  opinion  on  the  great 
importance,  in  the  abstract,  of  cultivating  the  mo- 
ral feelings  and  forming  the  disposition  and  the 
habits  to  virtue,  which  can  be  effectually  done 
only  by  making  the  positive  truths  and  precepts 
of  Christianity  the  basis  of  the  instructions  im- 
parted. Nevertheless,  there  is  a  real  difficulty, 
and  one  of  no  small  magnitude,  in  this  question. 


days  distinguished  by  wit,  and  taste,  and  learning,  and  know- 
ledge ;  and  they  were  not  less  distinguished  by  extravagance, 
revelry,  lawless  passions,  and  disregard  of  moral  and  social 
virtue.  High  attainments  are  tremendous  engines  for  the  work- 
ing out  of  good  or  evil.  If  not  directed  by  correct  and  safe 
principles,  they  are  terrible  weapons  of  ill.  The  educated  rogue 
or  infidel  is  but  "the  more  dangerous  man." — Mr.  Southard's 
Address  before  the  Literary  Societies  of  the  College  of  New 
Jersey, 

u* 


126     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Objections  to  religious  Instruction— Church  and  State— Sectarianism. 

Multitudes,  who  admit  to  the  full  the  correctness 
of  the  above  theory,  and  many  of  them  men  of 
personal  piety,  start  back  and  stand  aghast  at  the 
bare  idea  of  making  religion  a  necessary  part  of 
school  instruction.  They  ring  the  changes  on 
church  and  state,  sectarianism,  and  such  like  cant 
words  and  phrases,  till  they  persuade  themselves 
and  others,  that  there  is  real  force  in  what  they 
say.  And  truly  there  would  be  force  in  it,  if  the 
dangers  which  they  imagine,  had  any  foundation 
in  fact.  But  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  there  is 
a  morbid  feeling  in  many  minds  on  this  subject, 
which  causes  them  to  magnify  mole-hills  into 
mountains,  and  to  look  at  every  object  connected 
with  it  through  a  colouring  medium. 

Many  will  tell  us  that  the  religious  education  of 
children  is  a  matter  which  ought  to  be  left  entirely 
to  parents  and  to  the  clerical  profession.  Do  they 
reflect  that,  in  that  case,  there  are  numbers  who 
would  receive  no  instruction  at  all,  or  next  to 
none,  on  the  most  momentous  concern  that  can 
engage  their  attention  ?  Do  they  know  that  there 
actually  are  thousands  in  this  deplorable  condition? 
The  ignorance  of  religious  truth  that  prevails  in 
this  country  is  amazing.  I  have  myself  seen  and 
conversed  with  adults,  in  the  bosom  of  a  Christian 
community,  who  knew  little  more  than  heathen  of 
the  simplest  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  137 

Government  benefited  by  Christianity— Ought  to  repay  the  Debt. 

But,  they  urge,  it  is  at  least  an  affair  with  which 
Government  has  nothing  to  do.  If  by  this  be 
meant  only  that  Government  has  no  right  to  dic- 
tate the  religious  opinions  of  the  community,  then 
we  have  no  controversy ;  but  if  it  be  meant  to  as- 
sert that  Government  has  no  right  to  require  that 
the  great  principles  of  moral  duty,  principles  which 
in  fact  lie  at  the  foundation  of  civil  liberty,  shall 
be  taught  to  the  children  of  the  state,  then  1  dissent 
in  toto  from  the  opinion.  What  is  Government 
that  she  thus  frees  herself  from  obligation  1  Has 
she  received  nothing  herself?  Has  she  not 
on  her  part  been  incalculably  benefited  by  Chris- 
tianity? Has  not  her  authority  been  thereby 
enforced,  her  sanctions  confirmed,  her  title  to  re- 
spect vindicated,  her  principles  purified,  and  her 
powers  of  blessing  enlarged  ?  And  is  she  now  to 
turn  round  upon  Christianity,  and  say  to  her, — I 
can  do  nothing  in  return  for  all  this  to  promote 
your  interests  ?  Is  this  to  be  the  measure  of  her  gra- 
titude ?  Away  with  such  frigid  notions !  For  my- 
self, I  firmly  believe,  and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  avow 
it,  that  the  time  will  come  when  Christian  Govern- 
ments will  not  only  think  it  expedient  to  stretch 
their  power  to  the  limit  here  supposed,  but  will,  as 
Governments,  embark  in  the  glorious  work  of 
spreading  the  blessings  of  knowledge  and  religion 
over  the  world;  when  kings  shall  LITERALLY  be- 
come nursing  fathers,  and  queens  nursing  mothers 


128     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Much  important  ground  common  to  all  Evangelical  Sects. 

to  the  church.  Is  this  enthusiasm  1  Then  I  glory 
in  it.  I  would  rather  be  an  enthusiast  on  such  a 
theme,  and  in  such  a  cause,  than  to  have  the  repu- 
tation of  being  the  most  prudent,  calculating  man 
that  breathes. 

The  chief  apprehension  on  this  subject,  unless  I 
err  in  my  opinion,  is  that  sectarian  prejudices  will 
be  excited,  and  an  undue  influence  exerted  in  fa- 
vour of  the  sect  to  which  the  master  might  happen 
to  belong.  In  one  word,  proselytism  is  the  bug- 
bear. But  is  there  not  much  and  most  important 
ground  common  to  all  evangelical  denominations 
of  Christians?  Do  they  not  all  receive  and  insist 
upon  the  great  essential  principles  of  religion,  such 
as  the  divine  authority  and  truth  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  the  being  and  perfections  of  God,  his  mo- 
ral government  of  the  world,  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  the  fall  and  redemption  of  man,  his  account- 
ability, the  obligations  of  a  pure  morality,  and  the 
doctrine  of  a  future  judgment,  and  of  endless  re- 
wards and  punishments'?  And  cannot  these  truths 
so  sublime  in  themselves,  so  well  fitted  to  expand 
and  exalt  the  mind,  and  of  infinite  moment  to 
every  human  being,  be  taught,  to  the  entire  exclu- 
sion, if  need  be,  of  everything  of  a  sectarian  cha- 
racter ?  Surely,  it  would  be  better  to  omit,  by  com- 
mon consent,  all  reference  to  particular  creeds  and 
dogmas,  than  to  thrust  out  entirely  from  a  course 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    129 

Method  adopted  by  Prussia  to  allay  1'rejudice  and  promote  Harmony. 

of  popular  instruction,  the  elucidation  and  inculca- 
tion of  truths  on  every  account  the  most  important 
to  be  known. 

But,  Gentlemen,  is  it  necessary  to  do  even  this? 
On  this  question  I  would  not  express  a  positive  opi- 
nion, and  yet  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  there  is 
wisdom  enough  in  the  country  to  devise  some  plan 
by  which  even  such  a  necessity  might  be  obviated. 
This  has  actually  been  done  in  some  countries,  and 
in  none  with  more  complete  success  than  in  Prus- 
sia. The  inhabitants  of  that  kingdom,  as  you  well 
know,  are  composed  of  extremely  heterogeneous 
materials,  and  the  diversity  of  religious  belief  cor- 
responds to  their  dissimilarity  in  other  respects. 
Rather  more  than  half  of  them  are  Protestants, 
several  millions  Catholics,  and  a  very  respectable 
proportion  of  the  Jewish  faith.  Yet  the  Govern- 
ment requires  that  religion  be  taught  in  all  the 
schools,  but  without  the  slightest  interference  with 
the  freedom  of  religious  opinion.  Permit  me  to 
call  your  attention  to  the  provisions  of  the  Prussian 
law  on  this  subject. 

"  The  difference  of  religion,"  says  the  law,  "  is 
not  to  be  an  obstacle  in  the  formation  of  a  school 
society  [district]  ;  but  in  forming  such  a  society 
you  must  have  regard  to  the  numerical  proportion 
of  the  inhabitants  of  each  faith ;  and,  as  far  as  it 
can  possibly  be  done,  you  shall  conjoin  with  the 


130  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Extract  from  the  Prussian  Law.    Success  of  the  Plan. 

principal  master  professing  the  religion  of  the  ma- 
jority, a  second  master  of  the  faith  of  the  minority." 

The  law  farther  says : — "  The  difference  of  reli- 
gion in  Christian  schools  necessarily  produces  dif- 
ferences in  religious  instruction.  That  instruction 
should  be  always  appropriate  to  the  doctrines  and 
spirit  of  the  creed  for  which  the  schools  shall 
be  ordained.  But  as  in  every  school  of  a  Christian 
state,  the  dominant  spirit,  and  the  one  common  to 
all  sects,  is  a  pious  and  deep  veneration  for  God ; 
so  every  school  may  be  allowed  to  receive  child- 
ren of  every  Christian  sect.  The  masters  shall 
watch  with  the  greatest  care  that  no  constraint 
and  no  proselytism  be  exercised.  Private  and 
especial  masters,  of  whatever  sect  the  pupil  belongs 
to,  shall  be  charged  with  his  religious  education. 
If,  indeed,  there  be  some  places  where  it  is  impos- 
sible for  the  School  Committee  to  procure  an  espe- 
cial instructer  for  every  sect;  then,  parents,  if 
they  are  unwilling  that  their  children  shall  adopt 
the  prevailing  creed  of  the  school,  are  entreated 
themselves  to  undertake  the  task  of  affording 
them  lessons  in  their  own  persuasion." 

Such  is  the  Catholic  spirit  which  pervades  the 
Prussian  system  in  respect  to  religious  education; 
and  such  the  admirable  plan  by  which  it  allays 
sectarian  prejudices,  harmonizes  conflicting  ele- 
ments, and  on  the  most  momentous  of  subjects, 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     131 

Opinions  of  the  Wise  and  Good.    Mr.  Simpson. 

imparts  instruction  to  all  without  giving  offence 
to  any.  This  arrangement  has  been  found  in 
practice  to  answer  the  end  for  which  it  was  de- 
vised; it  gives  satisfaction  to  all  the  different 
sects ;  and  it  is  productive  of  the  happiest  effects 
on  the  national  character  and  manners.  And  that 
which  Prussia  thus  wisely  and,  I  will  add,  humane- 
ly performs,  cannot  the  states  of  this  union  accom- 
plish ?  To  contend  that  they  cannot,  would  be  to 
acknowledge  an  inferiority  in  prudential  resources, 
which,  I,  for  one,  am  not  yet  prepared  to  grant. 

What,  Sirs,  are  the  opinions  of  the  wise  and 
good  on  this  point, — especially  those  who  have  de- 
voted most  time  and  thought  to  it?  I  do  not  af- 
firm that  there  is  entire  unanimity  among  them, 
but  certainly,  as  far  as  my  knowledge  extends, 
the  weight  of  authority  is  decidedly  in  favour  of 
the  question  which  I  am  now  advocating. 

Mr.  Simpson,  an  original,  able,  and  in  many 
respects,  judicious  Scotch  writer,  on  education, 
speaking  of  the  small  effect  produced  by  pulpit  in- 
structions in  Great  Britain,  and  of  the  want  of 
early,  thorough,  and  systematic  religious  training, 
as  the  cause  of  it,  holds  the  following  language: — 
"  What  is  the  cause  of  so  small  a  harvest  from  so 
immense  a  cultivation?  Why  does  not  the  seed 
so  plentifully  sown  fructify  and  produce?  There 
is  but  one  answer  to  this  question,  WE  ARE  NOT  A 


132     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Bulwer  recommends  the  Introduction  of  Religious  Instruction  in  Schools. 

MORALLY  EDUCATED  PEOPLE.  There  is  a  barren- 
ness  among  us  where  genuine  Christianity  refuses 
to  take  foot;  there  is  worse ;  there  are  the  thorns 
of  an  inherent  selfishness  which  choke  it;  tares 
preoccupy  the  whole  field,  and  the  husbandmen  sow 
in  vain."  Again :  near  the  end  of  the  book  from 
which  I  quote,  he  has  these  explicit  words, — "  No 
one  can  have  read  this  treatise  without  observing 
that  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  is  strenuously  advocated 
in  it." 

Bulwer,  the  novelist,  insists,  with  much  force  of 
argument  and  vigour  of  language,  on  the  indispen- 
sable necessity  of  religion  as  the  foundation  of  a 
wise  and  efficient  system  of  national  education. 
His  opinion  is  thus  expressed  in  brief: — "  Let  us 
accomplish  our  great  task  of  common  instruction, 
not  by  banishing  all  religion,  but  by  procuring  for 
every  pupil  instruction  in  his  own.  And  in  this 
large  and  catholic  harmony  of  toleration,  I  do  be- 
lieve the  great  proportion  of  our  divines,  and  of 
our  dissenters  might,  by  a  prudent  government,  be 
induced  cheerfully  to  concur.  For  both  are  per- 
suaded of  the  necessity  of  education,  both  are 
willing  to  sacrifice  a  few  minor  considerations 
to  a  common  end,  and,  under  the  wide  canopy  of 
Christian  faith,  to  secure,  each  to  each,  the  main- 
tenance of  individual  doctrines.  I  propose,  then, 
that  the  state  shall  establish  universal  education  ; 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.      133 

Cousin's  Opinion.    Religion  the  best  base  of  Popular  Instruction. 

I  propose  that  it  shall  be  founded  on,  and  combined 
with,  religious  instruction;  and  I  remove,  by  the  sug- 
gestion I  have  made,  the  apprehension  of  contend- 
ing sects." 

Victor  Cousin,  the  profoundest  of  the  living 
philosophers  of  France,  and  one  of  her  most  ac- 
complished statesmen,  the  author  of  the  celebrated 
Report  on  Prussian  Education,  a  man  once  perse- 
cuted by  the  priesthood, — is  most  decided  in  his 
opinion  on  this  question :— "  The  popular  schools 
of  a  nation,"  he  says,  in  the  work  just  alluded  to, 
"  ought  to  be  penetrated  with  the  religious  spirit 
of  that  nation.  Is  Christianity,  or  is  it  not,  the  re- 
ligion of  the  people  of  France  ?  We  must  allow 
that  it  is.  Then,  I  ask,  shall  we  respect  the  reli- 
gion of  the  people,  or  shall  we  destroy  it  ?  If  we 
undertake  the  destruction  of  Christianity,  then,  I 
own,  we  must  take  care  not  to  teach  it  But  if 
we  do  not  profess  to  ourselves  that  end,  we  must 
teach  our  children  the  faith  which  has  civilised 
their  parents,  and  the  liberal  spirit  of  which  has 
prepared  and  sustains  our  great  modern  institu- 
tions. Religion,  in  my  eyes,  is  the  best  base  of 
popular  instruction.  I  know  a  little  of  Europe; 
nowhere  have  I  seen  good  schools  for  the  people 
where  the  Christian  charity  was  not.  In  human 
societies  there  are  some  things  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  which  religion -is  necessary.  Were  you 
12 


134  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Mr.  Dick.    His  Works  full  of  Passages  on  this  Subject. 

to  lavish  the  treasures  of  the  state,  to  tax  parish 
and  district,  still  you  could  not  dispense  with 
Christian  charity;  or  with  that  spirit  of  humble- 
ness and  self-restraint,  of  courageous  resignation 
and  modest  dignity,  which  Christianity,  well  under- 
stood and  well-taught,  can  alone  give  to  the  instruc- 
tion of  the  poor.  It  would  be  necessary  to  call 
religion  to  our  aid,  were  it  only  a  matter  of 
finance." 

From  the  works  of  Mr.  Dick,  one  of  the  most 
useful  and  popular  writers  of  the  present  age,  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  cull  a  small  volume  of 
extracts  having  a  pointed  reference  to  this  subject, 
and  all  in  full  harmony  with  the  views  here  advo- 
cated. One  brief  passage,  however,  is  all  that  I 
can  make  room  for :  "  In  the  preceding  sketches," 
he  remarks,  "  I  have  taken  for  granted,  that,  during 
the  whole  process  of  education,  the  attention  of 
the  young  should  be  directed  to  the  manifestations 
of  the  Divine  attributes — the  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  Christianity,  the  rules  of  moral  action,  and 
the  eternal  world  to  which  they  are  destined. 
These  are  subjects  which  should  never  be  lost 
sight  of  for  a  single  day,  and  which  should  be  in- 
terwoven with  every  department  of  literary  and 
scientific  instruction.  In  a  particular  manner  it 
should  be  deeply  impressed  on  the  minds  of  the 
young,  that  the  instructions  which  they  receive,  and 
the  studies  in  which  they  now  engage,  are  intended, 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  135 


Mr.  Wyse.    Intellectual  Education  without  Religion,  an  Evil. 


not  merely  to  qualify  them  for  the  business  of  the 
present  life,  but  likewise  to  prepare  them  for  the  fe- 
licities and  the  employments  of  the  life  to  come. 
This  is  one  of  the  ends  of  education  which  has 
been  glaringly  overlooked  in  most  of  our  initiatory 
schools." 

Mr.  Wyse,  a  leading  member  of  the  British  Par- 
liament, in  a  very  able  work  on  the  Necessity  of  a 
National  System  of  Education,  published  last  year 
in  London,  speaks  thus  explicitly  and  forcibly  on 
this  subject: — 

"  The  education  which  confines  to  the  desk  or 
chapel  is  partial ;  it  is  only  a  chapter  in  the  system. 
It  is  pernicious — it  is  a  portion  only  of  the  blessing. 
If  such  be  the  result  of  separating  physical  and  in- 
tellectual education,  how  much  more  so  of  divid- 
ing intellectual  and  moral !  It  is  laboriously  pro- 
viding for  the  community  dangers  and  crimes.  It 
intrusts  power,  with  the  perfect  certainty  of  its 
being  abused.  It  brings  into  the  very  heart  of  our 
social  existence  the  two  hostile  principles  of  Mani- 
cheism ;  it  sets  up  the  glory  and  beauty  of  civilisa- 
tion, to  be  dashed  to  pieces  by  the  '  evil  spirit,'  to 
whom  it  gives  authority  over  it.  It  disciplines  the 
bad  passions  of  our  nature  against  the  good,  mak- 
ing men  wicked  by  rule — rendering  vice  system — 
intrusting  to  the  clever  head  the  strong  hand,  and 
setting  both  loose  by  the  impulse  of  the  bad  heart 


136     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Makes  Men  wicked  by  Rule.    Takes  from  Education  its  very  Essence. 

below.  The  omission  of  Physical  Education  ren- 
ders the  other  two  ineffective  or  precarious ;  but 
the  neglect  of  Moral  Education  converts  physical 
and  intellectual  into  positive  evils.  The  pestilence 
of  a  high-taught,  but  corrupt  mind, '  blowing  where 
it  listeth'  scathes  and  sears  the  souls  of  men — it  is 
felt  for  miles  and  years  almost  interminable.  By 
the  press  (the  steam  of  the  intellectual  world)  it 
touches  distant  ages  and  other  hemispheres.  It 
corrupts  the  species  in  mass*  It  is  not  only  in  the 
actual  generation,  but  in  the  rickety  offspring 
which  follow  late  and  long,  that  its  deep-eating 
poison  is  strongly  detected.  Late  ages  wonder  at 
the  waste  of  great  means,  at  the  perversion  of 
high  opportunities,  and  noble  powers,  at  the  dere- 
liction of  solemn  duties,  which  every  where  cha- 
racterise these  strong,  but  evil  beings.  Call  them 
conquerors — call  them  philosophers — call  them 
patriots — put  on  what  golden  seeming  you  may — 
when  the  mask  falls  off,  as  it  always  does,  in  due 
season,  we  see  behind  it  the  worst  combination 
which  can  disgust  or  afflict  humanity.  Such  men- 
deliverers  and  enlighteners  (as  their  sycophants 
hail  them) — such  men  are  the  true  master-workers 
of  the  vices  and  calamities  of  their  age  and  coun- 
try. But  who  made  them  ?  They  who  taught 
them.  Education  left  out  its  very  essence.  It 
gave  them  knowledge,  but  it  left  them  immorality. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     137 

Dr.  Barrow.    Obligation  of  Schoolmasters  to  teach  Religion. 

"  When  I  speak  of  Moral  Education,  I  imply 
religion ;  and  when  I  speak  of  religion,  I  speak  of 
Christianity.  It  is  morality,  it  is  conscience,  par 
excellence.  Even  in  the  most  worldly  sense,  it 
could  easily  be  shown,  that  no  other  morality  so 
truly  binds,  no  other  education  so  effectually  se- 
cures even  the  coarse  and  material  interests  of 
society.  The  economist  himself  would  find  his 
gain  in  such  a  system.  Even  if  it  did  not  exist, 
he  should  invent  it.  It  works  his  most  sanguine 
speculations  of  good,  into  far  surer  and  more  rapid 
conclusions,  than  any  system  he  could  attempt  to 
set  up  in  its  place.  No  system  of  philosophy  has. 
better  consulted  the  mechanism  of  society,  or  join- 
ed it  together  with  a  closer  adaptation  of  all  its 
parts,  than  Christianity." 

Dr.  Barrow,  for  many  years  a  distinguished 
teacher  in  London,  an  eminent  scholar,  a  classical 
and  elegant  writer,  a  sober-minded  educationist, 
and  a  man  than  whom  none  has  written  better  on 
the  general  subject  of  education,  says  : — "  The 
obligation  of  a  schoolmaster  to  give  religious  in- 
struction to  his  pupils  may,  I  think,  be  unanswera- 
bly proved;  whether  Christianity  be,  what  we  are 
taught  to  believe  it,  the  dictate  of  divine  revela- 
tion ;  or,  what  modern  philosophy  affects  to  deem 
it,  the  mere  expedient  of  human  policy." 

This  obligation  he  then  proceeds  to  prove,  setting 
12  * 


138          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Four  Arguments  to  prove  this  Obligation. 

forth  the  argument  in  support  of  it,  with  much 
ability,  under  four  heads,  viz.  the  influence  of 
Christianity  in  checking  the  acknowledged  vicious 
propensities  of  human  nature,  and  the  actual  dis- 
orders thence  resulting  in  society ;  its  necessity 
to  the  purity  of  the  political  atmosphere,  and  the 
stability  of  political  institutions ;  its  connexion 
with  personal  virtue  and  usefulness;  and  finally, 
its  indispensable  necessity  to  the  attainment  of 
everlasting  happiness.  The  truth  and  excellency 
of  Christianity,  supported  by  the  commands  of  its 
Author,  are  thus  shown  to  constitute  the  obligation 
on  the  part  of  instructers  to  teach  it  to  those  en- 
trusted to  their  care;  and  one  circumstance,  which 
peculiarly  brings  home  this  obligation  to  the  school- 
master, is,  as  Dr.  Barrow  truly  remarks,  that  in- 
struction on  this  subject,  above  all  others,  must  be 
early  begun  and  constantly  continued.  In  this 
point,  as  in  almost  every  other,  man  is  the  crea- 
ture as  much  of  custom  as  of  conviction ;  and  it  is 
generally  confessed,  that  if  sentiments  of  religion 
are  not  impressed  upon  the  mind  in  infancy  or  in 
early  youth,  they  will  seldom  be  impressed  with 
sufficient  force  and  effect.  The  heart  will  soon 
be  occupied  with  other  thoughts,  and  the  life  form- 
ed to  different  habits;  it  will  not,  without  reluc- 
tance, receive  such  novel  opinions,  as  tend  to  im- 
pose additional  restraints  .upon  its  appetites  and 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  139 

Assuming  the  Authenticity  of  the  Bible,  the  Question  decided  at  onee. 

propensities.  A  vacant  mind  may,  indeed,  at  any 
time,  be  seized  with  the  terrors  of  superstition,  or 
the  reveries  of  enthusiasm  ;  but  in  youth  only  can 
be  taught  such  a  steady  and  rational  system  of 
faith,  as  shall  form  the  principle  of  duty,  and  the 
comfort  of  affliction,  through  all  the  vicissitudes 
of  life. 

"  Assuming  Christianity  to  be,"  observes  Dr. 
Barrow  in  the  course  of  his  Essay  on  Religious 
Instruction,  "  what  we  are  taught  to  believe  it,  a 
revelation  from  heaven,  the  question  is  at  once 
and  for  ever  decided.  Nor  have  I  supposed  the 
possibility  of  its  being  the  mere  expedient  of  hu- 
man policy,  as  if  I  thought  its  divine  origin  could 
rationally  be  doubted ;  but  that  I  might  discuss 
the  point  before  me  on  the  ground  most  favourable 
to  those  who  differ  from  me  in  opinion.  To  the 
utmost  liberality  of  sentiment,  I  hope  I  have  con- 
ceded enough ;  to  the  modern  affectation  of  it, 
certainly  too  much.  I  shall  no  longer,  therefore, 
even  in  argument,  compromise  the  interests  of 
truth  and  the  dignity  of  divine  revelation.  The 
doctrines  of  our  Scriptures  I  shall  consider  as  sa- 
cred and  inestimable  truths ;  before  which  sophis- 
try should  be  silent,  and  presumption  abashed ;  and 
the  precepts  I  shall  not  only  receive  with  reverence, 
as  the  laws  of  God ;  but  contend  for  them  with 
seal,  as  the  bulwark  of  the  happiness  of  man. 


140          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Addieon's  Opinion.     Milton's  Opinion. 

For  my  own  part,  says  Addison,  /  think  the  being 
of  a  God  as  so  little  to  be  doubted,  that  it  is  almost 
the  only  truth  we  are  sure  of;  and  to  this  I  will 
venture  to  add,  for  it  is  little  more  than  the  fair 
and  natural  inference,  that  the  doctrines  and  duties 
of  religion  are  almost  the  only  study,  which  we 
are  not  at  liberty  to  cultivate  or  to  neglect.   They 
constitute  the  only  science,  which  is  equally  and 
indispensably  necessary  to  men   of  every  rank, 
.every  age,  and  every  profession.     Admit  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  Bible,  and  the  principal  object  of 
education  becomes  at  once  as  obvious,  as  it  is  im- 
portant ;  to  regulate  the  sentiments,  and  form  the 
habits  of  beings,  degenerate,  indeed,  and  corrupt 
by  their  own  fault;  but  made  by  their  Creator 
rational  in  their  faculties,  and  responsible  for  their 
conduct.     If  it  be  the  business  of  education  to  pre- 
pare us  for  our  situation  in  life,  and  the  business  of 
life  to  prepare  us  for  the  happiness  of  eternity ; 
then  do  we  perceive  a  system  of  perfect  order  and 
beauty  in  itself;  and  equally  consistent  with  what 
we  observe  in  the  world,  and  with  the  wisdom  and 
goodness  of  its  Almighty  Author.     Science  imme- 
diately finds  its  proper  level,  and  its  due  estima- 
tion." 

The  great  Milton,  a  name  that  cannot  be  exalted 
by  praise  from  any  quarter  at  this  late  day,  speaks. 
in  his  Treatise  on  Education,  of  the  principles  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          141 

Hon.  Samuel  I.  Southard's  Defence  of  the  Bible. 

the  young  in  schools  "requiring  a  special  rein- 
forcement of  constant  and  sound  indoctrinating, 
to  set  them  right  and  firm,  instructing  them  more 
amply  in  the  knowledge  of  virtue,  and  hatred  of 
vice ;"  and  also  of  "  reducing  moral  instructions, 
derived  from  other  sources  than  the  Scriptures, 
in  their  nightward  studies,  wherewith  they  close 
the  day's  work,  under  the  determinate  sentence  of 
David  or  Solomon,  or  the  evangelists  and  apos- 
tolic Scriptures."  And  in  another  place  he  de- 
clares explicitly :  "  THE  END  OF  LEARNING  is  TO 

REPAIR  THE  RUINS  OF  OUR  FIRST  PARENTS,  BY  RE- 
QUIRING TO  KNOW  GOD  ARIGHT,  AND  OUT  OF  THAT 
KNOWLEDGE  TO  LOVE  HIM  AND  TO  IMITATE  HIM."* 


*  One  of  our  own  most  eminent  citizens,  the  Hon.  Samuel  L. 
Southard,  in  an  Address  recently  delivered  before  the  Literary 
Societies  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey, — an  Address  marked 
throughout  by  eloquence  of  style,  profound  research,  and  loftiness 
of  sentiment, — holds  the  following  language  at  pp.  17  and  18  : — 

"  Observe,  again,  two  comparatively  unlettered  men,  laborious 
in  their  employments,  and  altogether  without  the  adornments  of 
literature.  If  one  diligently  reads  the  Bible,  and  becomes  fami- 
liar with  its  language  and  expressions,  and  the  other  never  opens 
it,  you  may  tell  the  fact,  by  the  superiority  of  the  former,  in  his 
ordinary  manner  of  conversation,  even  upon  topics  unconnected 
with  the  doctrines  of  the  Book.  The  same  fact  is  illustrated  by 
two  schools,  in  one  of  which  it  is  sedulously  taught,  and  in  the 
other,  is  never  read.  You  cannot  converse  with  the  scholars, 
without  remarking  the  contrast." 


142         HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Influence  of  the  Bible  in  promoting  Virtue  and  checking  Vice. 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  quotations  from 
writers  of  inferior  note ;  but  let  these  suffice.  Here 
I  am  willing  to  rest  both  the  main  question,  and  the 
question  of  authority. 


And  again  at  pp.  32  and  33 ; — 

"  A  rigorous  investigation  of  the  authenticity  and  principles 
of  this  book,  will  discipline  your  powers — impart  to  you  generous 
and  lofty  sentiments — high  and  controlling  sense  of  duty — force 
of  character  to  meet  responsibilities,  and  firmness  to  encounter 
trials.  And  what  affection  or  feeling  of  the  heart  is  there,  which 
will  not  find  employment  in  the  study  ?  Do  you  seek  an  expla- 
nation of  the  nature,  or  illustration  of  any  pure  feeling— of  filial 
duty  and  affection — of  conjugal  or  parental  love— of  sympathy 
and  kindness — of  strong  enduring  friendship— of  attachment  to 
country  and  her  institutions — of  any  one  emotion  which  is  worthy 
of  you  as  social  and  immortal  beings— or  of  any  corrupt  and  de- 
basing practice  which  reason  forbids  you  to  indulge  ?  It  will  be 
found  there." 

I  did  not  feel  at  liberty  in  this  connexion,  to  introduce  the 
above  quotations  into  the  text,  because  the  writer  was  not  advo- 
cating the  study  of  the  Bible  in  common  schools,  and  therefore 
to  quote  him  as  authority  on  this  point  would  have  been  a  mani- 
fest perversion  of  his  language.  Nevertheless,  I  cannot  doubt, 
that  one  who  has  written  so  ably  and  strenuously  in  favour  of 
the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  colleges,  would  be  equally 
averse  to  their  exclusion  from  the  popular  schools;  especially, as 
one  of  the  illustrations  with  which  he  enforces  his  views,  is  taken 
from  the  influence  of  the  Bible  in  schools.  At  all  events,  what  is 
here  extracted  from  the  learned  Senator's  Address,  is  strictly 
pertinent  to  the  argument,  and  as  such,  I  adopt  it  as  my  own, 
with  due  acknowledgments. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     143 

Apprehension  as  to  the  Effect  of  Education  on  Labouring  Classes. 

It  was  said  in  a  former  part  of  these  Hints,  that 
the  only  objection  that  could  be  urged  against  the 
most  thorough  national  education,  was  its  expen- 
siveness.  I  recall  in  part  that  expression.  It  is 
sometimes  urged,  even  in  this  country,  that  such 
an  education  as  is  here  contended  for,  would  tend 
to  raise  the  labouring  classes  above  their  sphere, 
make  them  dissatisfied  with  their  station,  and  give 
them  a  distaste  for  manual  employments.  This  ob- 
jection may  be  as  properly  considered  here  as  any 
where. 

Now  in  order  to  furnish  a  reasonable  ground 
for  such  an  apprehension,  one  or  both,  of  two  as- 
sumptions must  be  shown  to  be  true  ;  either  there 
must  be  some  disgrace  in  manual  labour,  or  it  must 
tend  to  some  degree  of  unhappiness,  or  both  these 
qualities  must  attach  to  it.  Let  no  man  tell  me 
that  there  is  any  real  disgrace  in  labour,  when 
I  read  in  one  of  the  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians 
such  an  injunction  as  the  following, — "  Study  to 
be  quiet,  and  to  do  your  own  business,  and  to  work 
with  your  own  hands,  as  we  COMMAND  you ;  that 
ye  may  walk  honestly  toward  them  that  are  with- 
out, and  that  ye  may  have  lack  of  nothing;"  when 
I  hear  Paul  declaring,  in  the  same  epistle,  this 
fact, — "  For  ye  remember,  brethren,  our  LABOUR 
and  travail:  for  labouring  night  and  day,  because 
we  would  not  be  chargeable  unto  any  of  you,  we 


144  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

This  objection  considered  and  answered. 

preached  unto  you  the  gospel  of  God  ;"  when  I 
know  that  David  was  the  feeder  of  his  father's 
flocks ;  when  the  Scriptures  every  where  inculcate 
industry  as  one  of  the  first  of  moral  duties;  and 
above  all,  when  it  is  more  than  probable  that 
our  blessed  Saviour  himself  worked  for  many 
years  at  the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  thus  teaching 
us  that  real  dignity  and  worth  do  not  depend  on 
any  external  circumstances,  but  consist  in  the  quali- 
ties of  the  mind  and  heart. 

And  what  shall  we  say  of  the  latter  assumption  ? 
Does  labour  tend  to  unhappiness?  In  none,  cer- 
tainly, but  the  idle  and  the  vicious.  To  the  honest 
and  industrious  labouring  man  there  cannot  be  a 
greater  punishment  than  deprivation  of  employ- 
ment. 

Do  those  persons  who  urge  this  objection  con- 
sider that  one  main  design  of  all  good  education 
is  to  teach  men  their  duty,  with  the  reasons  of  it  ? 
And  who  ever  heard  that  teaching  men  their  duty, 
especially  if  the  instruction  was  imparted  in  a 
proper  manner,  was  calculated  to  give  them  a  dis- 
inclination to  perform  it?  "  The  admirable  mecha- 
nism of  society,  together  with  that  subordination 
of  ranks  which  is  essential  to  its  subsistence,  is  surely 
not  an  elaborate  imposition,  which  the  exercise  of 
reason  would  detect  and  expose.  The  objection 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    145 

Another  Objection  to  general  Education.    Founded  in  Selfishness. 

we  have  stated,  implies  a  reflection  on  the  social 
order,  equally  impolitic,  invidious,  and  unjust." 

Finally,  in  reply  to  this  objection :  In  the  schools 
that  I  would  propose  to  establish,  as  you  have 
already  seen,  manual  and  intellectual  instruction 
should  go  hand  in  hand ;  the  very  first  lesson,  and 
the  one  continually  inculcated,  should  be  a  lesson 
of  practical  independence ;  and  the  pupils  should 
be  taught  and  retaught,  on  all  occasions,  that  no- 
thing is  really  disgraceful  but  idleness  and  crime, 
and  that  the  true  dignity  of  man  consists  in  honest 
labour  for  honourable  purposes. 

There  is  another  objection  made  by  some  men 
against  contributing  any  thing,  in  the  shape  of 
taxes  or  otherwise,  towards  the  education  of  the 
mass  of  children  in  the  community.  It  is  this: 
viz.  that  they  educate  their  own  children  them- 
selves, and  others  ought  to  do  the  same  by  theirs. 
This  objection  is  founded  in  selfishness,  and  an 
argument  to  refute  it,  based  upon  higher  princi- 
ples, though  easily  constructed,  would  be  thrown 
away  upon  such  people.  Let  us,  therefore,  meet 
them  on  their  own  ground,  and  see  whether  the 
selfish  principle  itself,  properly  understood,  will  not 
lead  them  to  a  different  conclusion.  The  author 
imagines  himself  in  the  company  of  one  of  these 
objectors,  and  labouring  to  convince  him  of  his 
error. 

13 


146     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Imaginary  Dialogue  between  the  Author  and  the  Objector. 

AUTHOR. — Well,  my  friend,  I  am  anxious  that 
our  common  schools  should  be  established  upon  a 
better  basis  than  they  are  at  present,  and  I  am 
writing  a  book  to  that  end.  I  maintain  that  ail 
the  children  in  the  community  ought  to  be  well 
educated,  and  that  the  expense  of  their  education 
should  be  defrayed  by  the  whole  community,  each 
man  paying  in  proportion  to  his  property. 

OBJECTOR. — My  dear  sir,  that  would  be  neither 
more  nor  less  than  this, — that  the  rich  should  edu- 
cate the  poor. 

AUT. — Exactly  so. 

OBJ. — Monstrous !  It  would  be  rank  injustice. 
Can  you  have  the  face  to  promulgate  such  a  doc- 
trine in  a  free  country  ?  It  smells  of  despotism : 
it  has  no  communion  with  the  spirit  of  true  repub- 
licanism. No,  no,  let  every  man  educate  his  own 
children,  in  his  own  way ;  that's  my  doctrine,  and 
it's  my  practice  too.  I  employ  a  man  in  my  own 
house  to  teach  my  children ;  I  pay  him  punc- 
tually every  quarter;  and  when  that's  done,  my 
conscience  is  quite  easy :  I  feel  that  I  have  done 
my  part  towards  the  education  of  society. 

AUT. — This  is  truly  an  easy  way  of  performing 
duty,  and  of  having  a  quiet  conscience;  but  I 
yield  the  point  of  duty,  and  acknowledge,  for  the 
time  being,  the  soundness  of  your  positions.  But, 
my  friend,  do  you  love  your  own  children? 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  147 

Dialogue  continued. 

OBJ. — That's  a  strange  question,  truly.  Do  you 
take  me  for  a  monster? 

AUT. — No,  I  do  not ;  I  know  too  well  the  ten- 
derness and  strength  of  your  parental  feelings. 
You  say  you  have  your  children  instructed  at 
home.  You  can't  seclude  them  entirely  from  the 
company  of  other  children? 

OBJ. — No ;  and  it  grieves  me  to  the  heart.  They 
learn  so  much  that  is  bad  from  them. 

AUT. — How  much  would  you  give  to  have  these 
influences  purified,  so  that  they  should  cease  to  be 
injurious,  or  at  least  become  far  less  so  than  they 
are  at  present? 

OBJ. — How  much?  No  price  would  be  too 
great.  I  would  willingly  pay  a  hundred  dollars 
a  year  to  secure  so  great  an  advantage  for  my 
children. 

AUT. — In  admitting  so  much,  you  yield  the 
whole  argument.  If  you,  and  such  as  you,  would 
contribute  but  a  modicum  of  the  sum  you  have 
named,  such  schools  might  be  universally  esta- 
blished as  would  purify  the  moral  atmosphere  of 
society,  and  free  the  influences  to  which  your 
children  are  subjected  from  a  great  portion  of 
their  present  contaminating  virus.  Besides,  are 
you  quite  sure  there  would  not  be  true  economy 
in  this  ?  Perhaps  the  course  here  recommended 
would  so  far  raise  the  common  school  above  its 


148          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Selfishness  itself  would  lead  lo  Liberality  in  this  Matter. 

present  level,  in  point  of  intellectual  advantage 
and  moral  influence,  that  you  would  be  willing  to 
entrust  to  it  the  education  of  your  own  children. 
In  that  case  there  would  be  a  positive  pecuniary 
gain  to  yourself  in  your  contributions  for  the  good 
of  others. 

This,  I  am  persuaded,  is  sound  reasoning,  though 
it  appeals  to  the  selfish  principle,  and  depends  upon 
it  for  all  its  force.  It  is  the  best  argument  for  those 
to  whom  it  is  addressed,  though  one  of  a  more  ele- 
vated character  would  satisfy  the  philosopher  and 
the  statesman. 


149 


CHAPTER  III. 
QUALIFICATION  OF  TEACHERS. 

Importance  of  this  point — Our  present  Deficiency  in  well  qualified 
Instructors — Classes  of  Men  who  chiefly  engage  in  this  busi- 
ness— Motives  which  actuate  them — Their  ignorance — Inade- 
quate Views  of  Parents — Anecdotes  illustrative  of  this — A 
Teacher  in  the  Ban  de  la  Roche — Empirical  Methods  of  In- 
struction— Inefficiency  in  Government Its  Cause — School- 
Teaching  for  the  most  part  a  Temporary  Business — Some 
Exceptions  to  the  above  Remarks — Bad  effects  of  the  present 
State  of  Things  on  Teachers  and  Pupils — Our  general  Intel- 
ligence as  a  Nation  admitted — Not  attributable  to  our  Popular 
Schools — Its  true  Causes  pointed  out — Glorions  Results 
might  be  looked  for  from  the  Union  of  these  Causes  and 
a  well  organized  System  of  Popular  Education — Conditions  of 
such  a  System — Provision  for  the  Education  of  Teachers  a 
most  important  Condition — Practical  Error  of  Parents  in  this 
Matter — Deplorable  Effect  of  it — Teaching  must  be  made  a 
Profession,  and  become  respectable — No  office  more  truly 
honourable  than  that  of  an  Instructor— Its  present  degradation 
— Must  be  raised  to  its  proper  Rank — This  can  be  effected  only 
by  the  Establishment  of  Teacher's  Seminaries — Institutions 
of  this  Kind  the  intellectual  Want  of  the  Age — Prussia  al- 
ready supplied  with  them — Reference  to  some  other  Countries 
—Origin  and  History  of  these  Institutions — Theirgreat.Imporl- 
ance — They  are  the  Life- Blood  of  an  efficient  System  of  Popu- 
lar Education — Their  Necessity  insisted  on  by  all  Writers  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic — Extract  from  the  Edinburgh  Re- 
view on  this  Subject — The  question  examined  whether  these 
Seminaries  should  be  connected  with  other  Institutions,  or 
exist  under  a  separate  Organization — Three  Reasons  for  prefer- 
ring the  latter  Plan — Its  effect  would  be  better,  first,  on  the 

13* 


150          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Who  arc-  our  Teachers?    Motives  for  engaging  in  Teaching. 

character  of  the  Teacher ;  secondly,  on  their  Respectability ; 
thirdly,  on  their  Education — General  Principles  of  Organiza- 
tion— Two  leading  Results  to  be  aimed  at — good  Teachers 
and  some  security  that  they  will  exercise  their  Profession  in 
the  State  where  educated — Details  more  difficult — The  lights  of 
Experience  wanting  among  us — Must  look  to  Prussia  for 
Model  Schools — Conduct  of  Men  in  Parallel  Cases  in  the  ordi- 
nary Business  of  Life — Propriety  and  Utility  of  sending 
Agents  to  examine  and  report  upon  the  Prussian  Schools. 

THE  qualification  of  teachers  is  a  point  which 
requires  careful  consideration  in  the  organization 
of  any  general  system  of  popular  education.  In 
this  respect  our  schools  generally  will,  I  fear,  be 
found  to  be  even  more  deficient  than  in  regard  to 
their  course  of  studies. 

Who  and  what  are  our  teachers  at  present  1  It 
is  with  pain  and  sorrow  that  I  speak  disparagingly 
of  any  class  of  my  fellow  citizens,  especially  that 
with  which  my  own  relations  are  nearest,  and  my 
sympathies  most  lively ;  but  the  paramount  claims 
of  truth  and  society  must  be  permitted  to  outweigh 
all  personal  considerations. 

What  motives  are  now  most  influential  in  prompt- 
ing men  to  follow  the  business  of  common  school- 
teaching?  Some  engage  in  this  employment 
during  the  winter  months  because  they  can  make 
higher  wages  by  it  than  by  farming  or  mechanical 
labour;  some  follow  the  profession  of  teaching 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     151 

Their  great  Ignorance.     Anecdote  illustrating  it. 

because  they  are  too  feeble  to  endure  the  more 
hardy  and  often  more  coveted  toils  of  active  out- 
door employment;  others  again,  because  they  have 
failed  of  success  in  in  all  other  pursuits ;  others  for 
the  more  honourable  purpose  of  aiding  themselv.es 
in  obtaining  a  liberal  education ;  and  the  multitude, 
at  least  in  some  states,  are  made  up  of  thriftless 
adventurers  of  every  grade,  too  lazy  to  work,  too 
poor  to  live  without  it,  and  much  more  fit  to  be 
peddling  wooden  nutmegs,  or  making  hickory 
hams,  than  to  undertake  the  task  of  training  the 
youth  of  a  nation  to  the  knowledge  and  love  of 
their  duties  as  citizens  and  men. 

Few  of  these  persons  possess  any  thing  in  the 
shape  of  literary  attainments  beyond  the  bald  and 
meagre  knowledge  which  they  teach,  and  the 
many  are  much  more  fit  to  go  to  school  than  to 
undertake  the  labour  of  teaching  others.  Parents 
themselves,  it  is  much  to  be  feared,  entertain  gene- 
rally very  inadequate  notions  of  the  importance 
of  having  well  qualified  teachers  far  their  children, 
and  often  select  them  from  very  unworthy  motives, 
— such  as  relationship,  friendship,  cheapness,  and 
sometimes  even  because  they  can  make  them- 
selves useful  in  other  things  than  their  appropriate 
business.  I  have  heard,  gentlemen,  of  a  district 
in  our  own  state,  where  the  loss  of  a  teacher  was 
bitterly  deplored  for — what  think  you  ?  Because 


152    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Examination  of  a  Teacher  in  Connecticut.    Amusing  Answer. 

their  children  would  lose  his  valuable  services  ? 
No  such  thing ;  but  because  he  was  the  best  judge 
of  horses,  and  the  best  horse  doctor  in  the  district ! 
I  saw,  a  few  years  ago,  in  the  Christian  Observer 
of  Connecticut,  an  account,  deemed  authentic  by 
the  Editor,*  of  an  examination  of  a  teacher  by  a 
school  committee  in  one  of  the  districts  of  that 
state.  One  of  the  questions  put  to  the  candidate 
for  employment,  was,  "  Where  is  the  District  of 
Columbia  ?"  His  first  reply  was,  "  In  Vermont." 
He  was  given  to  understand  that  that  was  not  ex- 
actly its  locality.  He  then  shifted  it  to  other  quar- 
ters, and,  after  having  made  it  perambulate  various 
parts  of  the  Union,  the  examiners  and  the  examinee 
settled  down  in  the  learned  conclusion  that  the 
District  of  Columbia  was  partly  in  Virginia  and 
partly  in  Delaware.  And  there  ended  "the  strife  of 
tongues ;"  except  as  it  may  have  been  displayed 
in  the  intercourse  of  the  master  with  his  pupils,  as 
it  is  almost  needless  to  add,  the  applicant  passed 
the  ordeal  successfully,  and  was  admitted  to  em- 
ployment 

Mr.  Taylor,  in  his  District  school,  declares  that  it 


*  The  Rev.  H.  Hooker,  a  gentleman  not  likely  to  believe  any 
thing  on  insufficient  grounds.  The  Observer  declares  that  in 
some  townships  in  that  state,  there  is  not  a  man,  except  the  mi- 
nistcr,  competent  to  examine  a  teacher. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  153 

A  Teacher  In  the  Ban  de  la  Roche.    Empirical  Methods  of  Instruction. 

is  no  uncommon  thing  for  the  examining  committees 
in  New  York  to  allow  applicants  to  pass,  because 
they  happen  to  be  third  or  fourth  cousins  to  some 
one  of  their  own  honourable  body. 

Such  facts  as  these  remind  one  strongly  of  what 
is  related  of  one  of  the  schoolmasters  in  the  Ban 
de  la  Roche,  when  Mr.  Stouber  first  went  there. 
He  had  been  employed  in  that  capacity  for  the 
excellent  reason  that  he  had  become  too  old  and 
infirm  to  take  care  of  the  pigs.  Being  thus  enfee- 
bled and  incapacitated,  he  had  been  appointed,  as 
to  a  business  next  in  importance,  to  take  care  of 
the  children.  On  being  interrogated  as  to  what 
he  taught  them,  he  replied,  with  perfect  naivete, 
"  Nothing."  And  to  the  question  why  he  taught 
them  nothing,  he  answered,  with  equal  simplicity, 
"  Because  I  know  nothing  myself." 

But  not  only  is  the  stock  of  knowledge  of  our 
common  school- masters  extremely  limited;  they 
labour  under  the  further  disadvantage  of  being 
ignorant  of  the  best  modes  of  imparting  to  their 
pupils  even  the  modicum  they  possess  themselves. 
I  was  recently  informed  by  the  Superintendent  of 
Common  Schools  in  Pennsylvania,*  that-a  teacher 


*  Mr.  Burrows,  one  of  the  most  able,  judicious,  and  useful 
friends  of  popular  education  in  the  country. 


154     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

A  Schoolmaster  in  Pennsylvania.    Ilia  Objection  to  Classification. 

in  that  state  told  him  that  he  had  heard  much  of 
the  advantages  of  classification  in  schools,  but  that, 
having  tried  it  himself,  he  had  found  it  was  all 
folly,  and  that  he  was  now  satisfied  that  the  only 
useful  method  of  instruction  was  to  hear  the  pupils 
recite  their  exercises  one  by  one.  Would  you 
know  the  cause  of  so  signal  a  failure  of  one  of  the 
simplest  methods  of  economizing  the  labour  of  a 
teacher,  and  multiplying  the  benefits  of  instruction? 
Behold  this  gentleman's  plan  of  opetations!  He 
divided  his  scholars  off  into  classes,  gave  each  an 
invariable  position  in  the  class,  always  commenced 
the  recitation  at  the  same  end,  and  required  as 
nearly  as  possible  an  equal  proportion  of  the  lesson 
to  be  recited  by  each  member.  Now,  sirs,  I  ask 
you  whether  it  requires  the  gift  of  second  sight  to 
perceive  what  this  master's  objection  to  classing 
his  pupils  was  ?  Each,  for  the  most  part,  learned 
only  the  portion  that  he  supposed  would  come  to 
him  in  the  recitation.  The  objection,  therefore, 
was,  that  classification  had  a  bad  effect  on  both 
the  morals  and  the  knowledge  of  the  pupils,  tempt- 
ing them  at  the  same  time  to  use  deceit  and  to 
neglect  their  studies.  And  this  is  but  a  specimen 
of  the  thousand  and  one  errors  in  the  modes  of 
instruction,  assuming  as  many  different  shapes  and 
hues,  which  have  arisen  out  of  the  ignorance  and 
inexperience  of  teachers ; — errors,  which  have  de- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     155 

Defective  Government.    Ignorance  of  Human  Nature. 

graded  the  profession  of  teaching  and  perverted 
its  ends,  which  have  tortured  and  dwarfed  the  in- 
tellects of  learners,  and  contributed  more  perhaps 
than  any  other  cause  to  that  wide-spread  indiffer- 
ence which  is  now  the  principle  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  the  adoption  of  improved  systems  of  gene- 
ral education. 

What  shall  we  say  of  the  ability  and  success  of 
our  common  school  instructors  in  that  important 
branch  of  their  duties,  comprehended  in  the  term 
GOVERNMENT  ?  Alas !  it  would  be  easy  to  sketch 
here  such  a  picture  of  passion,  menace,  and  brute 
force  on  the  one  side,  of  rudeness,  insubordination, 
and  open  resistance  on  the  other,  and  of  coarse 
and  angry  altercation  on  both,  as  would  pain  every 
human  heart,  much  more  those  who  are  capable 
of  appreciating  not  only  the  immediate  effects  of 
such  a  state  of  things  on  the  happiness  of  the 
parties,  but  all  those  remote  influences  it  cannot 
fail  to  exert  on  the  character  and  conduct  of  those 
young  beings,  who  are,  and  are  to  be,  the  greatest 
sufferers.  How  should  it  be  otherwise  1  In  order 
to  the  maintenance  of  rational  government  in  a 
school,  in  order  that  the  influence  of  discipline 
may  be  beneficial  instead  of  hurtful,  it  is  an  indis- 
pensable condition  that  the  master  be  able,  at  least 
in  some  good  degree,  to  control  the  public  opinion 
of  his  pupils.  This  is  in  fact  the  great  instrument 


156     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

School-keeping  a  temporary  Business.   Exceptions  to  foregoing  Remarks. 

of  good  and  successful  school  government.  It  is, 
however,  an  instrument  beyond  the  power  of  those 
to  use,  who  have  no  knowledge  of  the  principles 
of  human  nature,  and  especially  of  those  peculiar 
manifestations  of  it  displayed  in  childhood.  It  is 
this  almost  total  ignorance  of  human  nature  which, 
by  the  practical  errors  of  which  it  is  the  source, 
is  the  principal  cause  of  the  prevalent  failure  in 
government  of  those  who  now  have  the  manage- 
ment of  our  common  schools. 

The  aggravated  evils  of  the  condition  of  things 
above  described,  are  yet  further  increased  by  the 
circumstance,  that  most  even  of  the  teachers  we 
now  have,  poor  as  they  are,  regard  their  employ- 
ment as  merely  temporary,  have  an  extreme  dis- 
relish for  it,  and  only  await  a  favourable  opportu- 
nity to  quit  the  odious  task,  and  engage  in  pursuits 
more  congenial  with  their  inclinations. 

Let  me,  however,  act  upon  the  principle,  as  con- 
sonant to  reason  as  it  is  to  Scripture,  of  "  rendering 
unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's."  I  would 
not  willingly  speak  unjustly  of  any,  and  least  of  all 
of  a  class  of  men  whose  reward  is  so  dispropor- 
tionate to  their  toils,  and  who  occupy  a  station  in 
society  with  which,  under  existing  circumstances, 
so  much  is  connected  that  is  disagreeable.  I  there- 
fore most  gladly  admit  that  there  are  honourable 
exceptions  to  the  general  rule.  Even  now  teach- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  157 

Some  good  Teachers.    General  bad  Effects  of  the  System. 

ers  are  occasionally  to  be  met  with,  who  would 
be  an  honour  to  the  profession  under  a  system  the 
best  organized  and  the  most  comprehensive.  But 
this  does  not  invalidate  the  general  fact  of  their 
want  of  suitable  qualifications ;  it  still  remains  true 
that  the  primary  schoolmasters  of  this  country — 
certainly  of  our  own  state — are,  as  a  body,  unfit 
for  the  station  they  fill,  and  unworthy  of  being 
entrusted  with  so  momentous  a  charge  as  the  in- 
tellectual and  moral  training  of  a  nation's  youth, 
the  bud  and  promise  of  her  future  strength. 

That  there  may  be,  and  are,  some  good  schools 
under  such  a  system, lias  been  fully  admitted;  but 
the  evils  of  the  system  are  incalculable.  Inexpe- 
rience, disgust,  a  morbid  anxiety  for  and  feverish 
anticipation  of  release  from  what  is  regarded  as  a 
loathsome  and  onerous  thraldom,  want  of  interest 
in  the  pupil's  progress,  and  an  entire  ab§ence  of 
professional  pride, — these  are  its  legitimate  and  ne- 
cessary fruits,  so  far  as  instructors  are  concerned. 
Its  effects  on  the  moral  character  and  intellectual 
developement  of  our  youth,  and  of  course  on  their 
happiness  and  usefulness,  cannot  but  be  disastrous 
and  deplorable  in  the  extreme. 

But  are  we  not,  it  may  be  asked,  in  the  main, 

an  intelligent,  shrewd,  well-informed  people?     I 

freely,  nay,  exultingly,  admit  that  we  are ;  but  I 

deny  that  it  is  to  our  common  schools  that  we  are 

14 


158    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Our  Intelligence  as  a  Nation.    Its  Causes. 

chiefly  indebted  for  this  character.  As  a  nation, 
we  are  educated  more  by  contact  with  each  other, 
by  business,  by  newspapers,  magazines,  and  circu- 
lating libraries,  by  public  meetings  and  conven- 
tions, by  lyceums,  by  speeches  in  congress,  in  the 
state  legislatures,  and  at  political  gatherings,  and 
in  various  other  ways,  than  by  direct  instructions 
imparted  in  the  school  room.  And  if  so  much 
general  intelligence,  as  now  unquestionably  cha- 
racterises us  as  a  people,  is  the  result  of  the  pre- 
sent state  of  things,  what  might  we  not  anticipate, 
if  to  all  these  influences  were  superadded  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  well  organised  and  comprehensive 
system  of  primary  education?  Results,  glorious 
in  themselves,  and  most  auspicious  to  our  pros- 
pects as  a  nation,  might  be  looked  for  from  such 
a  union. 

I    Say,    A    WELL    ORGANIZED    SYSTEM.       But    what 

are  the  conditions  of  such  a  system  1  Allow  me 
to  summon  Mr.  Cousin  to  my  aid  in  answering 
this  question.  "  The  best  plans  of  instruction,"  he 
says,  "  cannot  be  executed  but  by  good  teachers ; 
and  the  state  has  done  nothing  for  popular  educa- 
tion, if  it  does  not  watch  that  those  who  devote 
themselves  to  teaching  be  well  prepared;  then 
suitably  placed,  encouraged,  and  guided  in  the 
duty  of  continued  self-improvement;  and  lastly 
rewarded  and  promoted  in  proportion  to  their 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     159 

Conditions  of  a  well  organised  System.    Philosophy  of  good  Schools. 

advancement,  and  punished  according  to  their 
faults." 

Here  is  the  whole  philosophy  of  good  schools 
and  sound  education  reduced  within  the  compass 
of  a  nutshell.     What  are  their  elements  1     First, 
good  plans  of  instruction ;  then,  good  teachers ; 
next,  provision  by  the  state  for  preparing  teachers 
for  their  work  ;  fourthly,  suitable  encouragement 
and  guidance  in  the  duty  of  continued  self-improve- 
ment; and  finally,  promotions  and  rewards  for 
the  meritorious,  and  punishments  and  disgraces 
for  the  unworthy.     And  these  are  all  essential  ele- 
ments of  a  well  organised  system.     Take  away 
any  one  of  them,  and  you  destroy  the  proportions 
of  the  whole  structure,  and  materially  diminish 
both  its  strength  and  beauty; — take  away  the  third 
— provision  for  the  education  of  teachers — and 
you  remove  the  corner  stone  of  the  whole  system, 
and  leave  it  comparatively  powerless  for  any  use- 
ful purpose.  No  general  plan  of  popular  education 
can  be  at  all  entitled  to  the  epithet  well-organ- 
ised, which  does  not  provide  for  the  training  of 
masters.     This,  in  my  opinion,  is  the  first  duty  of 
a  state  with  respect  to  schools ;  and  without  it,  all 
other  legislation  in  reference  to  this  matter,  what- 
ever partial  advantages  it  may  result  in,  must  stop 
short  of  the  full  benefits  at  which  it  ought  to  aim, 
and  which  it  might  accomplish. 


lf,0          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Practical  Error  on  this  subject.    Us  fatal  Effects. 

There  has  been  a  radical  error  in  the  practice, 
if  not  in  the  opinions,  of  parents  on  this  subject. 
They  have  acted  as  if  they  thought  that  he  who 
was  unfit  for  any  thing  else  would  make  a  very 
tolerable  teacher  for  their  children.  No  opinion 
could  be  more  preposterous,  no  course  of  action 
more  short-sighted.  It  is  not  thus  that  men  think 
and  act  on  other  subjects.  A  mechanic  must 
serve  an  apprenticeship  of  three,  four,  or  five  years, 
before  he  is  allowed  to  undertake  the  formation  of 
an  elegant  piece  of  furniture,  or  a  complicated 
machine,  when  nothing  can  result  from  failure  but 
the  loss  of  the  rude  material  and  the  workman's 
time.  But  we  have  been  in  the  habit  of  committing 
the  infant  mind,  that  most  delicate  and  complex 
piece  of  God's  workmanship,  to  men  who  have 
never  studied  even  the  first  principles  of  its  struc- 
ture ;  and  that  too  at  a  time  when  its  parts  are 
most  easily  disarranged,  and  when  such  disar- 
rangement produces  the  most  fatal  and  lasting 
effects. 

While  such  views  thus  practically  prevail,  it  is 
in  vain  to  look  for  the  fruits  of  a  wise  system  of 
elementary  instruction.  There  is  no  conviction 
deeper  or  stronger  in  my  mind  than  this, — that 
but  little  can  be  effected  in  this  country  towards 
elevating  popular  education,  and  establishing  it 
on  a  firm  basis,  till  we  have  a  body  of  teachers 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    161 

Profession  of  a  Teacher  disreputable.   Must  be  raised  to  its  proper  Rank. 

regularly  trained  to  their  business,  and  the  occu- 
pation of  an  instructor  shall  take  its  proper  rank 
among  the  learned  professions.  When  the  title  of 
schoolmaster,  now  almost  a  reproach  and  a  hiss- 
ing, shall  be  a  passport  to  respect,  then,  and  not 
till  then,  will  the  general  education  become  what 
it  ought  to  be.  And  who,  let  me  ask,  is  entitled  to 
a  higher  degree  of  consideration  and  respect  from 
the  community  than  the  devoted  and  laborious 
teacher  of  youth?  Does  the  nature  of  a  man's 
occupation  confer  any  proportion  of  dignity,  apart 
from  the  manner  in  which  he  performs  its  duties? 
We  can  scarcely  deny  that  it  does.  What  nobler 
work,  then,  can  task  the  human  energies  than  that 
of  training  immortal  beings  to  act  well  their  part 
in  life,  and  to  enjoy  the  rewards  of  virtue  through 
interminable  years  ?  "  It  may  be  affirmed,  with- 
out the  least  hesitation,  that  there  is  no  office  in 
general  society  more  honourable  or  important  than 
that  of  an  instructor  of  the  young,  and  none  on. 
which  the  present  and  future  happiness  of  the  hu-. 
man  race  so  much  depends.  But  in  consequence 
of  [various  circumstances],  the  office  has  been 
rendered  inefficient  for  the  great  purposes  of  hu- 
man improvement,  and  the  teacher  himself  de- 
graded from  that  rank  which  he  ought  to  hold  in 
the  scale  of  society."  He  must  now  be  raised  to 
his  proper  elevation  in  that  scale,  or  we  must  be 
14  * 


162    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Necessity  of  Teachers1  Seminaries.    Established  in  othur  Countries. 

content  to  forego  the  advantages  of  a  higher  moral 
and  intellectual  developement  of  the  popular  mind. 
But  the  days  of  miracles  are  over;  and  therefore 
it  is  that  I  conclude  that  this  elevation  is  a  result 
which  can  never  take  place,  to  the  extent  desired 
and  needed,  till  SEMINARIES  FOR  THE  EDUCATION  OF 
TEACHERS  shall  have  gone  into  general  operation. 
Institutions  of  this  kind  may  be  regarded  as  em- 
phatically the  intellectual  want  of  the  age,  and  es- 
pecially of  our  own  country.  In  Prussia  this  is  no 
longer  a  want ;  it  is  already  a  realization.  The 
number  of  such  institutions  in  that  kingdom  is  now 
fully  equal  to  supply  the  entire  demand  for  teach- 
ers throughout  its  territories.  France  has  nobly 
followed  the  lead  of  Prussia  in  this  matter,  and  her 
Normal  schools  will  ere  long  furnish  her  with  a 
corps  of  instructors  every  way  qualified  for  their 
work.  Many  of  the  German  principalities,  and 
some  of  the  cantons  of  Switzerland,  have  achiev- 
ed the  same  thing.  Similar  establishments  have 
been  founded  in  Greece,  and  in  some  of  the  South 
American  States  ;  particularly  that  formerly  under 
the  presidentship  of  the  accomplished  and  liberal- 
minded  Santander.  And  even  in  the  heart  of  Af- 
rica, the  monarch  of  Benin  has  invited  a  Mr. 
L'Espinat,  a  schoolmaster  of  Senegal,  to  establish 
in  his  capital  a  Norman  school  of  mutual  instruc- 
tion. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  163 

History  of  these  Institutions.    The  life-blood  of  Popular  Education. 

Nor  are  these  institutions  so  recent  in  their  in- 
ception as  many  probably  imagine.  They  owe 
their  origin  to  the  celebrated  Francke  who  flourish- 
ed nearly  a  century  and  a  half  ago.  Beside  his 
Orphan  Asylum  at  Halle,  stood  a  seminary  for  the 
education  of  teachers.  From  this  time,  education 
and  the  educator  became  objects  of  general  inte- 
rest throughout  Germany  ;  and  since  1730,  lectures 
on  school  keeping  appear  to  have  been  universally 
delivered.  Hecker,  a  pupil  of  the  Frankean  disci- 
pline, founded  a  school  for  teachers  at  Berlin  in 
1740 ;  and  one  of  these  seminaries  in  Hanover  was 
established  as  early  as  1750.  Normal  schools  were 
founded  in  Bohemia  in  1770 ;  and  before  the  French 
revolution  similar  establishments  existed  in  Usin- 
gen,  Dessan,  Cassel,  Detmold,  Gotha,  Oeringen, 
and  Kiel. 

Thus  you  perceive  how  early  the  attention  of 
other  nations  was  directed  to  this  great  object  of 
educating  teachers,  and  how  steadily  and  success- 
fully some  of  them  have  pursued  it.  And  who 
shall  say  that  they  have  attached  an  undue  import- 
ance to  it?  It  is  the  very  life-blood  of  an  efficient 
system  of  popular  instruction.  In  vain  will  you  es- 
tablish schools  for  the  people,  unless  you  place 
over  them  competent  instructers.  The  wisest  plan 
without  this  will  be  devoid  of  all  vitality.  But 
where  will  you  get  such  teachers,  unless  you  make 


164     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Indispensable  to  good  Teachers.     Insisted  on  by  the  ablest  Writers. 

them  ?  Can  you  summon  them  from  the  "  vasty 
deep"  to  do  your  bidding  ?  You  may  call  them, 
but  they  will  not  come ;  and  for  the  best  of  rea- 
sons,— they  are  not  in  being.  When  will  the  states 
of  this  Union,  the  boasted  land  of  common  schools 
and  general  intelligence,  awake  to  the  importance 
of  this  subject,  and  put  forth  their  energies  to  sup- 
ply this  deficiency  ?  There  is  a  torpor  in  the  pub- 
lic mind  in  relation  to  it,  for  which  it  is  not  easy 
to  account,  and  from  the  effects  of  which,  if  it  be 
not  shaken  off,  forebodings  of  the  most  gloomy 
character  may  well  be  entertained. 

The  institution  of  seminaries  for  the  education 
of  teachers,  is  no  visionary  scheme,  no  wild  chi- 
mera of  mine ;  their  importance,  their  absolute  ne- 
cessity, is  held  by  you,  gentlemen,  in  common  with 
all  other  intelligent  men,  who  have  examined 
enough  into  the  matter  to  form  a  decisive  opinion 
upon  it.  Are  they  not  insisted  on  by  some  of  the 
ablest  writers  and  most  enlightened  friends  of  edu- 
cation on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  1 — by  Cousin 
in  France,  by  Bulwer,  Simpson,  and  Dick  in  Eng- 
land, by  Bryce  in  Ireland,  and  by  Woodbridge, 
Dwight,  De  Kay,  and  Dix  in  our  own  country? 
Mr.  Burrowes,  I  understand,  will  urge  the  immedi- 
ate necessity  of  establishing  one  or  more  in  Penn- 
sylvania, in  his  forthcoming  Annual  Report  to  the 
Legislature  of  that  state.  Their  importance  has 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     165 

Report  in  favour  of  them  by  Mr.  Morgan.    Adopted  in  Philadelphia. 

been  repeatedly  affirmed  in  resolutions  passed  at 
popular  meetings  in  various  parts  of  the  country, 
and  especially  by  a  highly  respectable  meeting 
held  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  about  a  twelve- 
month ago,  when  an  elaborate  argument  was  pre- 
sented in  favour  of  their  establishment  in  a  Report 
drawn  up  by  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Morgan,  and  unani- 
mously adopted.  Many  of  the  first  Literary  Jour- 
nals of  the  age  have  earnestly  and  ably  maintain- 
ed their  indispensable  necessity  to  a  high  order  of 
popular  education;  and  among  them  the  Edin- 
burgh Review,  the  Foreign  Quarterly  Review, 
and  the  London  Quarterly  Journal  of  Education, 
the  American  Annals  of  Education,  and  others  too 
numerous  to  mention.  I  ask  your  attention  to  an 
extract  from  the  11 7th  Number  of  the  first  men- 
tioned of  these  journals  on  the  subject.  The  ex- 
tract is  of  some  length,  but  it  will  repay  a  careful 
perusal.  At  page  27,  the  writer  says : 

"  Of  all  the  preliminary  steps,  then,  to  the  ad- 
justment of  this  great  question,  by  far  the  most  im- 
portant is  the  appointment  of  some  means  for 
training  schoolmasters,  not  to  any  set  of  mechani- 
cal evolutions  merely,  but  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
principles  and  practice  of  their  profession,  and  to 
the  able  and  enlightened  discharge  of  its  duties. 
The  want  of  some  such  provision  is  the  great  vice 
of  our  Scottish  system.  Faults  have  thus  crept 


166    HINTS  ON' POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Extract  from  the  Edinburgh  Review.  Reference  to  Prussia. 

into  the  practice  of  our  parish  schools,  which  no- 
thing but  the  removal  of  the  cause  will  eradicate. 
Our  readers  are  aware  what  consequence  the  Prus- 
sian lawgivers  attached  to  this  object ;  wisely  con- 
sidering that  the  best  plans  of  teaching  are  a  dead 
letter,  without  good  and  able  teachers ;  and  that  to 
expect  good  teachers  without  good  training,  is  to 
look  for  a  crop  without  ploughing  and  sowing.   In 
all  their  regulations  on  the  subject  of  the  Schulleh- 
rer  seminarien,  there  is  an  anxious  consideration 
of  whatever  can  minister  to  the  moral  and  intellec- 
tual improvement,  and  even  to  the  personal  com- 
fort and  happiness,  of  the  young  teachers,  which 
reminds  us  more  of  the  tenderness  of  parental  care 
and  admonition,  than  of  the  stern  and  authoritative 
precepts  of  law.     Every  department  is  enjoined  to 
have  one  of  these  seminaries ;  the  pupils  to  be  ad- 
mitted between  sixteen  and  eighteen,  to  the  num- 
ber of  from  sixty  to  seventy  in  each ;  to  be  situa- 
ted in  towns  of  moderate  size,  that,  on  the  one 
hand,  they  may  be  preserved  from  the  corruption 
of  very  large  ones,  and,  on  the  other,  have  access 
to  schools  which  they  can  see  and  may  improve 
in.     The  course  of  instruction  delivered  in  these 
institutions  presupposes  that  of  the  primary  schools. 
Pupils  are  admitted,  however,  with  whom  it  is  ad- 
visable to  go  back  on  the  primary  instruction; 
and  the  first  of  the  three  years,  which  form  the 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    167 

No  such  Institutions  in  the  Island  of  Great  Britain. 

complement  of  attendance  for  the  whole  course,  is 
generally  spent  in  revising  and  giving  readier  and 
fuller  possession  of  previous  acquirements.     If  that 
point,  however,  is  already  reached,  it  shortens  the 
attendance  by  one  year,  and  the  pupil  proceeds  at 
once  to  the  business  of  the  second,  which  is  em- 
ployed in  giving  him  just  notions  of  the  philosophy 
of  teaching,  the  treatment  of  the  young  mind,  the 
communication  of  knowledge,  the  arrangement  of 
school  business,  the  apparatus  and  evolutions  ne- 
cessary  for  arresting  attention  and   husbanding 
time ;  of  all,  in  fine,  that  pertains  to  the  theory  and 
practice  of  moral  education,  intellectual  training, 
and    methodical   instruction, — technically   called 
Paedagogik,  Didactik,  and  Meihodik.     The  third 
year  is  more  particularly  devoted  to  the  object  of 
reducing  to  practice,  in  the  schools  of  the  place, 
and  in  that  which  is  always  attached  to  the  semi- 
nary, the  methods  and  theory  he  has  been  made 
acquainted  with.  We  refer  for  other  details  to  our 
preceding  number.     It  is  more  to  our  present  pur- 
pose to  remark,  that  there  does  not  exist,  nor  ever 
has  existed,, in  the  island  of  Great  Britain,  a  single 
institution  of  this  kind,  which  the  Prussian  people 
think  so  useful,  that  they  have  voluntarily  gone 
beyond  the  number  prescribed   by  law.     There 
were,  at  the  close  of  1831,  thirty-three  of  these 


168  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Their  Importance  urged  upon  Parliament. 

seminaries  in  the  monarchy,  which  is  more  than 
one  for  each  department  or  circle.* 

"  We  cannot  but  think,  therefore,  that  some  ef- 
fort should  be  made  to  apply  part,  at  least,  of  the 
Parliamentary  grant  to  the  purpose  of  training 
schoolmasters,  if  it  were  only  to  mark  the  opinion 
of  Government  of  the  importance  and  necessity  of 
such  establishments ;  and  to  direct  public  attention 
to  a  branch  of  knowledge  which,  new  and  unex- 
plored as  it  is  amongst  us,  has  long  taken  its  place 
in  the  circle  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  long  had 
its  literature  and  its  votaries,  in  Germany.  Any- 
thing approaching,  indeed,  to  the  universal  and 
permanent  organisation  in  that  country  (for  it  is  by 
no  means  confined  to  Prussia,)  it  would  of  course 
be  vain  to  expect  in  this,  at  least  for  many  years 
to  come  ;  but  means  of  opening  up  the  subject,  and 
commending  it  to  the  attention,  not  of  teachers 
only,  and  patrons  of  schools,  but  of  the  public  ge- 
nerally, need  not  be  regarded  as  out  of  our  reach. 
Might  not,  for  example,  a  lectureship,  or  a  pro- 
fessorship of  the  art  of  teaching  (or,  if  a  name  be 
wanted  for  the  new  subject,  of  Didactics)  be  ap- 
pended to  one  or  two  of  the  Scotch  universities ; 


•  There  are  now  more  than  60. — AUTHOR. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  169 

lectureships  on  School-keeping  recommended  in  the  Scotch  Universities. 

and,  if  such  a  novelty  could  not  be  engrafted  on  the 
old  establishments  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  tried, 
at  least,  in  the  infant  institution  of  Durham?  A 
very  small  endowment,  if  any,  would  be  wanted, 
provided  Parliament  would  make  it  imperative  on 
candidates  for  vacant  schools  (beginning  at  first 
with  those  of  the  better  kind  only),  to  produce  a 
certificate  of  having  attended  such  a  course,  or 
even  to  undergo  an  examination  on  the  subjects 
there  treated. 

"  It  is  obvious  in  contemplating  such  an  arrange- 
ment as  this,  that  the  greatest  difficulty  would  be 
to  find  fit  persons  for  such  an  office, — a  difficulty 
which  would  scarcely,  however,  last  beyond  the 
first  appointment.  And  even  with  regard  to  that, 
we  need  scarcely  look  farther  than  to  the  burgh 
and  parochial  schoolmasters  of  Scotland.  As  a 
body,  indeed,  they  are  not  beyond  being  greatly 
benefited  by  attendance  on  such  a  course  as  we 
propose ;  but  there  are  men  among  them,  and  the 
number  is  on  the  increase,  who,  to  an  enthusiastic 
attachment  to  their  profession,  and  a  large  experi- 
ence of  its  practical  details,  add  much  knowledge 
of  its  principles  acquired  by  reading,  and  reflection, 
and  an  almost  intuitive  perception  of  what  is  right 
in  the  management  of  the  youthful  faculties,  and  in 
the  manner  of  imparting  instruction.  Philosophy 
and  experience  must  go  hand  in  hand,  to  fit  a  man 
15 


170    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Necessity  of  Inspection.    Required  in  Prussia  and  France. 

for  the  purpose  in  view.  If  such  lectureships  were 
instituted  in  places  where  there  was  access  also  to 
schools  in  which  the  doctrines  might  be  illustrated, 
the  practice  exemplified,  and  the  teaching  partly 
conducted  by  the  student,  we  should  accept  it  as 
the  greatest  boon  that  could  be  conferred  on  the 
parochial  education  of  Scotland.  There  are  few, 
perhaps  none,  of  the  defects  that  still  cling  to  our 
parish  schools  which  would  not  disappear  under 
the  wholesome  influence  of  such  a  measure,  car- 
ried ably  and  honestly  into  effect.  For  example, 
next  to  that  measure  itself,  there  is  nothing 
more  loudly  called  for  to  improve  our  parochial 
discipline,  than  a  plan  of  authorised  inspection. 
This,  we  have  seen,  is  regarded  as  an  essential 
part  of  the  Prussian  and  French  systems,  and  is 
executed  by  delegates  appointed  by  the  Minister 
of  Public  Instruction.  It  seems  natural  that  the 
proposed  lecturers,  with  assistants,  if  required, 
should  have  this  arduous  duty  devolved  upon  them. 
Again,  a  well  arranged  succession  of  school-books 
is  still  a  desideratum :  none  would  be  so  likely  to 
supply  it  well,  as  men  whose  lives  would  be  de- 
voted to  the  study  of  their  art.  But  if  such  a  pro- 
ject shall  appear  to  some,  as  we  are  prepared  to 
expect,  visionary  and  impracticable,  let  strenuous 
endeavours  be  at  least  made  to  multiply  the  num- 
ber and  increase  the  efficiency  of  the  model 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     n  l 

(lues,  whether  Teacher*'  Seminaries  should  be  Independent  Institutions. 

schools  we  have.  There  is  an  endowment  for  such 
an  institution,  called  the  Harrington  School,  at 
Bishop  Auckland ;  and  the  Metropolitan  schools  of 
both  the  societies  are  open,  and  have  been  used  for 
such  purposes,  as  far  as  their  means  would  go. 
To  improve  and  assist  these  would  be  a  far  more 
profitable  way  of  expending  the  grant,  than  to 
build  schools  for  the  propagation  of  imperfect  me- 
thods." 

It  is  a  practical  question  of  no  small  importance 
whether,  if  the  proposed  seminaries  are  established, 
they  shall  exist  as  independent  institutions,  or  in 
connexion  with  and  dependency  on  other  institu- 
tions already  in  being, — either  colleges  or  acade- 
mies. Much  may  be  said,  with  great  plausibility 
and  force,  on  both  sides  of  the  question ;  especially 
in  favour  of  their  connexion  with  colleges.  Here 
we  have  buildings,  libraries,  lecture  rooms,  appa- 
ratus, cabinets,  and  learned  professors,  already 
provided,  without  any  new  outlay  of  money,  and 
nothing  seems  wanting  but  pupils  to  be  trained  to 
become  the  future  educators  of  our  children.  The 
Edinburgh  Review,  in  the  paragraphs  just  quoted, 
advocates  the  adoption  of  this  plan  in  Scotland. 
But,  gentlemen,  mark  the  grounds  of  this  advocacy. 
It  recommends  the  establishment  of  lectureships  on 
school-keeping  in  the  Scotch  universities,  not  as  the 
best  plan  in  fact  for  the  training  of  teachers,  but  as 


172     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Separate  Organizations  preferable.    Reasons  for  this  Preference. 

probably  the  most  feasible  one,  under  existing  cir- 
cumstances ;  that  is,  as  far  better  than  no  plan  at 
all  for  the  attainment  of  this  object. 

This  is  exactly  my  own  opinion  in  reference  to 
this  country ; — I  refer  here  not  to  the  question  of 
feasibility,  but  to  the  comparative  excellence  of  the 
the  two  systems.  No  one  can  doubt  that  much 
would  be  gained  to  the  cause  of  popular  education, 
by  having  departments  for  the  training  of  teachers 
connected  with  our  colleges,  and  even  with  our 
County  Grammar  Schools  ;  but  this  admission  is 
entirely  distinct  from  any  opinion  as  to  whether 
that  system  is  the  best  that  could  be  adopted,  or 
even  the  best  that  has  been  proposed.  For  myself, 
while  I  admit  that  those  who  differ  from  me  have 
much  that  is  weighty  to  urge  in  favour  of  their 
plan,  I  incline  strongly  to  the  belief  that  separate 
and  independent  organizations,  though  more  costly, 
and  even,  if  you  please,  less  efficient,  at  first,  would, 
in  the  end,  secure  the  common  object  in  view  far 
better  and  more  effectually  than  the  appended  and 
subordinate  departments,  which  some  worthy  and 
judicious  persons  seem  to  desire. 

In  the  first  place,  consider  the  constitutional 
tendencies  of  human  nature,  especially  as  display- 
ed by  young  men  in  seminaries  of  education.  He 
is  but  a  novice  in  the  philosophy  of  observation, 
who  has  .not  seen  frequent  manifestations  of  the 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          173 

Its  Effect  on  the  Character  of  Teachers  better. 

strong  disposition  which  exists  in  the  young  to 
"run"  each  other,  as  it  is  termed.  Now  the 
future  schoolmasters,  being  generally  young  men 
in  indigent  circumstances,  and  belonging  to  a 
really  subordinate  department  of  the  college,  would 
infallibly  become  the  butt  for  ridicule  of  the  classi- 
cal students, — the  targets,  as  it  were,  at  which 
sarcasm  would  aim  her  shafts ;  shafts  not,  indeed, 
pointed  with  poisoned  metals,  but  still  sharp  enough 
to  inflict  momentary  pain,  and  whose  hits  would 
sometimes  leave  festering  wounds  behind.  No 
power  on  earth  could  prevent  this,  while  human 
nature  and  the  state  of  society  remain  what  they 
are  at  present.  It  is  easy  to  foresee  what  effect 
such  a  state  of  things  would  produce.  It  would 
either  sour  the  minds  of  the  future  teachers,  and 
impart  a  certain  ferocity  to  their  temper  and  dis- 
position ;  or  it  would  beget  a  mortifying  sense  of 
inferiority,  destructive  of  all  proper  self-respect 
and  personal  independence. 

Again:  It  is  admitted,  on  all  hands,  that  the 
profession  of  teaching  ought  to  be  as  respectable 
as  any  other  in  society ;  and  that  it  must  become 
so,  before  it  can  be  productive  of  all  the  benefits, 
which  it  is  capable  of  achieving.  It  is  a!so  known, 
by  all  who  know  any  thing  about  the  delicate  re- 
lations of  cause  and  effect,  how  much  men's  feel- 
ings and  opinions  are  influenced  by  names,  appear- 
15* 


174     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Also  on  their  Respectability  and  Qualifications. 

ances,  and  airy  nothings,  or  that  which  seems 
little  more  substantial.  Now  the  respectability  of 
teaching  will  and  must  depend  somewhat  on  the 
respectability  of  the  institutions  where  instructers 
are  trained.  And  will  any  man  tell  me  that  mere 
departmental  appendages  to  colleges  and  acade- 
mies can  become  as  respectable  in  the  eyes  of  the 
community,  as  original,  independent  institutions, 
with  their  own  presidents,  professors,  buildings, 
libraries,  apparatus,  and  all  the  other  parapherna- 
lia of  educational  establishments  ?  It  is  impossible 
in  the  nature  of  things ;  and  few,  I  imagine,  will 
maintain  that  they  can. 

I  shall  content  myself,  and  dismiss  the  argu- 
ment, with  one  further  consideration  on  this  point. 
It  is  this:  The  young  men  who  are  preparing 
themselves  to  be  teachers,  will  not  be  as  well 
taught,  either  theoretically  or  practically,  in  the 
proposed  college  departments,  as  they  would  be 
in  the  teachers'  seminary.  You  will  not,  I  trust, 
misunderstand  me  here.  Had  I  intended  to  cast 
any  slur  upon  college  instruction,  I  certainly 
would  not  address  myself  to  a  college  Professor. 
All  that  I  mean  to  say,  and  what  I  firmly  believe, 
is,  that  Professors  in  colleges  would  not  feel  the 
same  interest  in  their  lectures  and  instructions  to 
the  pupils  of  a  subordinate  department  in  their  re- 
spective institutions,  that  would  be  felt  by  the  Pro- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION     175 

General  Principles  on  which  Teachers'  Seminaries  ought  to  be  founded. 

lessors  in  a  Normal  Seminary,  where  instructions 
of  the  kind  in  question  would  constitute  their  sole 
business.  And  besides  this,  the  modes  of  teaching, 
adapted  to  common  schools  and  to  colleges,  are 
so  different,  so  almost  opposite  to  each  other,  that 
it  is  no  disparagement  to  an  eminent  and  highly 
successful  Professor  in  a  college,  to  say  that  he  is 
not  the  most  fit  person  to  instruct  those  who  are 
to  become  the  teachers  of  children.  Teachers  in 
colleges  cannot  properly  be  selected  with  much 
reference  to  their  fitness  for  such  a  task ;  while  the 
very  reverse  would  be  true  of  the  Normal  school. 
There  such  qualification  would  be  all  in  all.  If  it 
be  said  that  one  Professor  at  least  in  each  college 
would  be  so  chosen ;  my  reply  is,  that  in  the 
teachers'  seminaries  all  would  be  selected  upon 
this  principle.  From  these  premises  the  conclu- 
sion seems  fairly  deducible  that  the  future  educa- 
tors would  themselves  be  better  educated  in  semi- 
naries with  independent  organizations,  than  in 
departments  connected  with  collegiate  institutions. 
Having  thus  strenuously  urged  the  necessity  of 
founding  teachers'  seminaries,  and  briefly  intimated 
my  reasons  for  preferring  a  separate  organization 
for  them,  I  will  venture  upon  one  or  two  sugges- 
tions as  to  the  general  principles  on  which,  as  it 
seems  to  me,  they  ought  to  be  established.  Two 
leading  results  should  be  aimed  at, — first,  a  supply 


176          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Two  leading  Results  to  be  aimed  at. 

of  good  instructers,  and  then,  some  security  that 
their  services  will  be  given,  at  least  for  a  few 
years,  to  the  state  in  which  they  are  educated. 

The  candidate  for  the  profession  of  teaching,  in 
order  to  become  suitably  prepared  for  his  work, 
must  learn  two  things ; — he  must  learn  to  know, 
and  he  must  learn  to  teach,  two  branches  of  know- 
ledge quite  distinct  in  their  nature,  and  not  by  any 
means  always  found  in  union  with  each  other. 
Every  Normal  Seminary  must  propose  to  itself  to 
communicate  both  these  branches  to  its  pupils. 
But  what  ought  the  pupils  to  learn  to  know?  The 
view  given  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  education 
proper  for  the  people  determines  that  which  would 
be  suitable  for  their  teachers.  The  wants  of  the 
people  must  be  exclusively  consulted  here.  As 
religious  and  moral  culture  was  there  shown  to  be 
the  object  first  in  importance  in  the  education  of  the 
young,  so  it  should  be  made  of  paramount  weight 
in  the  training  of  the  future  educators.  Above  all 
things  else,  they  ought  to  be  made  familiar  with 
the  histories,  whether  of  individuals  or  of  nations, 
contained  in  the  Bible;  with  its  pure  and  unequalled 
code  of  morality;  with  the  evidences  for  its  divine 
origin ;  and  with  a  general  outline  of  the  history 
of  the  true  religion  in  all  ages  and  countries.  For 
the  rest,  they  should  receive  appropriate  instruc- 
tions on  all  those  other  sciences  which  they  will 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    177 

Teachers  must  learn  to  know  and  to  teach. 

afterwards  have  to  teach  themselves.  "  The  ob- 
ject of  these  instructions  should  be  not  to  make 
the  students  profound  mathematicians,  [natural- 
ists,] philosophers,  or  divines,  but  to  impart  to 
them  a  clear  and  comprehensive  view  of  all  those 
subjects  of  a  practical  nature  which  may  be  level 
to  the  comprehension  of  the  bulk  of  mankind, 
which  may  present  them  with  delightful  objects 
of  contemplation,  which  may  have  a  bearing  on 
their  [own]  present  and  future  happiness,"  and 
increase  their  ability  to  be  useful  to  others. 

Instructions  of  this  kind  should  be  accompanied 
with  others  designed  to  give  the  learners  a  know- 
ledge of,  and  skill  in,  the  practical  part  of  their 
future  duties.  The  principles  of  the  juvenile  mind, 
the  science  of  school-government,  the  means  of 
rendering  the  pursuit  of  knowledge  attractive  to 
the  young,  the  plan  and  routine  of  study,  the  divi- 
sion of  time,  the  arrangement  and  management  of 
classes,  the  moral  treatment  of  pupils,  the  punish- 
ment of  offences,  the  best  modes  of  illustration,  and 
whatever  else  appertains  to  the  practical  instruc- 
tion and  management  of  a  school,  should  be  fully 
unfolded,  and  illustrated  in  minute  detail.  For 
this  purpose  it  is  indispensable  that  one  or  more 
elementary  model-schools  should  be  attached  to 
each  teacher's  seminary,  where  the  future  instruc- 
tor can  have  constant  opportunities  both  of  seeing 


178  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

How  can  the  services  of  Teachers  be  secured  to  the  State  ? 

his  own  teachers  conduct  the  class  exercises,  and 
of  hearing  recitations  himself  under  the  eye  of 
those  who  will  be  able  to  correct  his  errors,  to 
foster  his  excellencies,  and  to  lead  him  on  step  by 
step  to  that  practical  acquaintance  with  the  duties 
of  his  profession,  which  will  be  the  pledge  of  his 
success  and  the  measure  of  his  usefulness. 

The  question  of  securing  the  services  of  these 
men,  after  they  shall  have  completed  their  course 
of  studies,  to  the  state  in  which  they  were  edu- 
cated, is  perhaps  one  of  greater  practical  difficul- 
ty. It  is  a  question  on  which,  I  confess,  I  have 
not  bestowed  much  thought,  but  the  object  con- 
templated I  believe  to  be  entirely  attainable.  Per- 
mit me  to  suggest  one  method,  not  as  the  only,  or 
even  the  best  means  of  attaining  it,  but  as  one 
which  has  occurred  to  my  own  mind.  "  It  is  some- 
what similar  to  that  employed  by  the  General  Go- 
vernment to  secure  a  like  object  in  reference  to 
the  cadets  educated  at  West  Point.  Let  the  state 
not  charge  any  of  the  seminarists  more  than  one 
half  the  actual  cost  of  their  education,  and  let  her 
exact  from  each  on  entering  a  written  pledge, 
guarantied  by  friends,  to  follow  the  profession  of 
teaching  for  a  specified  number  of  years,  say  from 
three  to  five,  and  to  exercise  it  within  her  limits 
during  that  period, — unless,  on  changing  his  pur- 
pose, he  first  pay  back  to  the  state  the  whole  sum 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  179 

Details  more  difficult.    No  Models  in  this  Country. 

with  interest,  expended  on  his  education.  Some- 
thing like  this,  if  I  remember  right,  is  required  of 
each  pupil  on  entering  the  Normal  schools  of  Prus- 
sia. Let  the  state  add  to  this  a  judicious  system 
of  annual  or  triennial  rewards,  or  honorary  dis- 
tinctions to  be  conferred  on  such  as  distinguish 
themselves  by  the  ability  and  faithfulness  with 
which  they  discharge  their  duties ;  and  the  end 
desired  would,  I  can  scarcely  doubt,  be  already 
well  nigh  secured. 

On  the  soundness  of  these  organic  principles  for 
teachers'  seminaries,  I  do  not  entertain  the  least 
doubt;  but  in  forming  such  an  institution,  an  almost 
endless  quantity  of  details  would  be  requisite,  in 
reference  to  which,  I  frankly  avow,  I  should  be  at 
great  loss  in  making  up  an  opinion,  and  I  doubt 
not  many  others  would  find  themselves  in  the  same 
uncertainty.  How  can  these  doubts  and  the  hesi- 
tation consequent  upon  them  be  removed?  In 
most  matters  of  importance,  where  it  is  a  question 
how  we  shall  proceed  ourselves,  it  is  usual  to  con- 
sult the  experience  of  others.  But  whither  shall 
we  look  for  the  lights  of  experience  on  this  mo- 
mentous question  ?  There  is  not,  as  far  as  I  am 
informed,  a  single  institution  of  the  kind  proposed, 
established  by  any  state  in  this  confederacy.  The 
departments  instituted  for  this  purpose  by  the  state 
of  New  York,  as  mere  appendages  to  a  few  of  the 


180           HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

The  Departments  in  New  York  no  exception  to  this. 

County  Grammar  Schools,  cannot  be  considered 
as  forming  an  exception  to  this  remark.  Mr.  Dix, 
the  able  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  in  that 
state,  is  not  at  all  satisfied  with  this  plan.  He  says, 
"  If  the  foundations  of  the  whole  system  of  public 
instruction  in  New  York  were  to  be  laid  over,  it 
would  be  advisable  to  create  separate  seminaries 
for  the  education  of  teachers."  There  is  an  insti- 
tution for  the  training  of  teachers  in  Andover, 
Mass.,  under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  S.  Hall,  the 
author  of  several  valuable  works  on  education, 
which  is  said  to  have  been  very  useful  in  its  influ- 
ence on  common  schools  in  that  state ;  but,  if  I  am 
correctly  informed,  it  is  not  in  any  way  connected 
with  or  dependent  on  the  civil  authorities  of  the 
commonwealth.  And  these  establishments  are,  as 
far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  the  extent  to  which 
measures  have  been  put  in  actual  operation  for 
the  specific  object  of  educating  teachers  "in  this 
country ! 

Whither,  then,  I  ask  again,  shall  we  turn  our 
eyes  for  light  to  resolve  our  doubts,  and  mo- 
dels that  may  help  us  in  our  hour  of  need  ?  To 
Prussia  certainly,  where  institutions  of  the  kind  in 
question  are  best  organized,  have,  been  longest  in 
operation,  and  have  produced  the  most  important 
results.  I  have  said,  and  it  will  not  be  denied, 
that  it  is  customary,  in  important  matters,  to  con- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  181 

Must  consult  the  Experience  of  other  Nations,  especially  Prussia. 

suit  the  experience  of  others.  Is  not  this  done  in 
all  the  learned 'professions,  and  in  every  pursuit  of 
life?  Are  not  agents  often  employed  for  this  pur- 
pose by  individuals,  by  colleges,  by  incorporated 
companies,  and  even  by  sovereign  states?  Suppose, 
for  example,  we  were  to  hear  of  the  discovery  of 
some  new  principle  in  mechanics,  more  valuable 
than  any  hitherto  discovered,  or  of  a  new  applica- 
tion of  some  principle  previously  known,  and  to 
learn  that  in  some  European  country  it  had  been 
applied  to  machinery  with  complete  success;  sup- 
pose, further,  that  we  were  desirous  of  introducing 
this  new  principle,  or  application,  as  the  case  might 
be,  into  our  own  manufactories,  would  we  do  it 
upon  the  mere  representation  of  books,  however 
•well  written  or  scientific  ?  No,  surely ;  it  is  not  in 
this  way  that  men  act,  where  important  pecuniary 
interests  are  involved.  We  would  pursue  a  wiser 
course;  we  would  send  out  some  capable  person, 
commissioned  to  make  a  thorough  examination, 
and  to  bring  back,  not  merely  a  written  report, 
and  plans  on  paper,  but  also  his  own  personal 
knowledge,  derived  from  personal  observation. 
This  is,  in  fact,  often  done.  It  is  needless  to  enu- 
merate cases;  they  are  so  common,  that  the  me- 
mory of  every  man  of  the  least  information  will 
supply  them  in  abundance. 

Let  those  states,  then,  that  really  desire  to  found 
16 


182     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

The  sending  out  of  /.gents  recommended. 

systems  of  public  instruction,  fitted  to  bless  the 
present  generation,  and  worthy  of  being  transmit- 
ted to  posterity,  act  with  the  ordinary  wisdom  of 
intelligent  individuals  in  undertaking  an  important 
enterprise.  If  they  would  set  themselves  intelli- 
gently about  the  first  duty  of  a  free  state — to  dif- 
fuse knowledge  and  virtue  among  its  citizens — let 
them  commission  competent  agents  to  visit  the 
Prussian  schools,*  who  shall  be  charged  to  take  a 
general  survey  of  the  operation  of  the  whole  sys- 
tem, and  to  remain  long  enough  at  one  of  the  best 
of  the  Normal  seminaries  to  become  perfectly  fami- 
liar with  all  its  organic  principles,  its  details  of 
arrangement,  its  modes  of  intercourse,  discipline, 
and  instruction,  its  examinations,  and,  in  short, 
with  every  thing  appertaining  to  it  in  all  its  as- 
pects and  relations.  After  an  adequate  examina- 
tion, let  them  return  and  spread  the  result  of  their 
inquiries  severally  before  the  states  by  whom  they 
were  employed.  These  will  then  be  prepared  to 
try  the  experiment  of  educating  teachers  under 
the  most  favourable  circumstances,  and  if  they 


*  This  has  actually  been  done  by  Ohio ;  a  state  which,  though 
comparatively  young,  is  already  far  in  advance  of  many  of  her 
elder  sisters,  in  her  schools,  her  internal  improvements,  her 
eleemosinary  institution?,  and  various  other  points  of  her  public 
policy. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  183 

Expense  no  Objection.    Cousin's  Report  Deficient. 

fail,  it  will  not  be  for  the  reason  that,  with  a 
penny-wise  pound-foolish  policy,  they  groped  their 
way  in  the  dark,  because  they  feared  the  expense 
of  procuring  those  lights,  which  were  within  their 
reach.  No  objection,  as  it  seems  to  me,  could  be 
made  by  any  state  to  such  a  procedure,  but  its 
expense.  Yet  what  would  the  expense  be  1  A  few 
thousand  dollars  at  most — a  mere  nothing  in  com- 
parison with  the  magnitude  of  the  object  to  be 
secured. 

It  may,  indeed,  be  urged  as  a  plea  to  obviate  the 
necessity  of  the  course  recommended,  that  we 
have  the  Report  of  Cousin  on  the  state  of  Educa- 
tion in  Prussia,  and  we  may  be  called  upon  to  say 
what  need  there  is  of  further  light.  It  is  true  that 
the  eminent  philosopher  and  educationist  referred 
to,  performed  the  duty  assigned  him  with  an  abi- 
lity honourable  alike  to  himself  and  the  French 
nation ;  and  his  Report  is  a  mine  of  valuable  in- 
formation concerning  Prussia,  and  of  just  princi- 
ples in  relation  to  education  in  general.  But  Cou- 
sin was  not  long  enough  in  Prussia  to  become 
thoroughly  conversant  with  her  educational  insti- 
tutions.* His  Report  presents  us  with  a  variety 


*  He  arrived  there  on  the  5th  of  June,  1831,  and  left  about 
the  1st  of  July  of  the  same  year. 


184          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 


Would  answer  for  France,  but  not  adapted  to  our  circumstances. 


of  minute  details  in  reference  to  the  economy  and 
regulations  of  the  Normal  schools,  but  he  gives  us 
no  clear  idea  of  the  manner  in  which  the  various 
branches  of  knowledge  are  taught  to  those  who 
are  themselves  to  become  the  teachers  of  the 
primary  schools.  This,  in  fact,  was  hardly  neces- 
sary under  the  circumstances ;  for  he  was  to  re- 
turn, and  to  superintend  in  person  the  establish- 
ment of  the  national  schools  in  France.  Besides, 
it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  he  wrote  for  a 
people  differing  widely  from  ours  in  their  manners, 
customs,  institutions,  laws,  form  of  government, 
and  the  whole  structure  of  society.  What  the 
citizens  of  our  several  states  need  for  their  com- 
plete satisfaction  is  an  examination  by  one  of 
themselves, — a  man  familiar  with  their  institutions 
and  with  their  habitudes  of  thought,  feeling,  and 
action,  who  should  pursue  his  investigations  into 
the  system  with  a  constant  reference  to  the  ques- 
tion of  its  availability  for  their  own  republican 
purposes.  They  require  for  their  guidance  not 
only  a  Report  from  such  a  man,  but  that  deep 
familiarity  with  the  spirit  of  the  system,  and  that 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  minutiae  of  its  ar- 
rangements, and  with  its  special  modes  of  instruc- 
tion, which  can  be  gained  only  by  personal  in- 
spection, and  can  never  be  fully  shadowed  forth  in 


HINTS  OF  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  185 

A  Report  from  one  of  our  own  Countrymen  needed. 

a  written  Report.  Between  a  mere  composition, 
however  eloquent  or  able,  and  this  full,  fresh, 
breathing  knowledge,  there  is  the  same  difference 
that  there  is  between  a  marble  statue  and  a  living 
man. 


16* 


186 


CHAPTER  IV. 

COMPENSATION  OF  TEACHERS. 


Present  inadequate  Compensation  of  Teachers — No  Class  in  the 
Community  so  poorly  rewarded — Wages  of  Mechanics  and 
other  Manual-Labourers  as  compared  with  the  pay  of  School- 
Maslers — Compensation  of  Instructers  as  indicated  by  the 
School-Returns  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York — Alarming 
Nature  of  the  Facts  disclosed  by  these  Returns — Manifold 
Evils  of  this  ill-judged  Parsimony — Examination  into  the 
Claims  of  Competent  and  Faithful  Teachers  to  receive  a  libe- 
ral Reward — Justice  requires  it — Sound  Policy  requires  it — 
Teachers  should  be  supplied  with  the  Means  of  maintaining  a 
Family — The  Question,  what  would  be  a  fair  average  Salary  ? 
considered — Inquiry  into  the  Cost  of  the  System  recommend- 
ed— Twenty  Millions  a  Year  for  the  Whole  United  States — 
This  Sum  compared  with  the  Object  in  View  and  the  Advan- 
tages that  would  result  from  the  Attainment  of  the  Object — 
Whence  is  the  Money  to  come? — This  Question  dispassionate- 
ly answered — First,  from  the  Annual  Proceeds  arising  from 
the  Sale  of  Public  Lands — Secondly,  from  the  Interest  of  the 
Surplus  Revenue  deposited  with  the  States — Thirdly,  from  the 
Avails  of  present  and  additional  Grants  of  Land  for  this  Pur- 
pose— These  three  Sources  would  give  ten  Millions  a  Year — 
The  other  ten  Millions  to  be  raised  by  the  Districts  (hem- 
selves — Those  who  refuse,  to  receive  none  of  the  Public 
Money — Present  Endowments — Bequests — The  Nation  ex- 
pends liberally  for  less  important  Objects — Florida  War — 
Last  War  with  Great  Britain — Astounding  Fact  in  relation  to 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     187 

Compensation  of  Teachers.    Very  inadequate. 

the  Cost  of  the  Wars  in  which  England  was  concerned  be- 
tween 1688  and  1815 — Enough  to  Educate  the  whole  World 
to  the  End  of  Time — Poverty  and  Economy  of  Nations  when 
Education  is  to  be  provided  for — Our  Parsimony  in  main- 
taining Schools  a  National  Disgrace — A  more  liberal  Compen- 
sation to  Schoolmasters  essential  to  an  efficient  Education  of 
the  People — The  necessary  Expenditure  really  small  in  Com- 
parison with  our  Resources  and  the  Vastness  of  the  Object  to 
be  gained. 

THE  compensation  of  teachers  is  a  matter  of 
great  moment,  and  demands  especial  considera- 
tion in  establishing  a  general  and  permanent  sys- 
tem of  popular  education.  There  is  no  class  in 
the  community  whose  services  are  so  poorly  re- 
warded, in  proportion  to  the  labour  required  and 
the  responsibility  involved,  as  those  of  the  primary 
schoolmaster.  The  average  wages  of  mechanics 
is  not  less  than  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  day,  which 
would  give  them  an  annual  income  of  over  four 
hundred  dollars.  Labourers  on  farms,  in  facto- 
ries, and  at  most  other  occupations,  can  easily 
realise  two  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  frequently 
more. 

How  stands  the  matter  with  respect  to  school- 
masters? The  school-returns  in  Massachusetts 
and  New  York,  for  the  year  1834,  show  the  fol- 
lowing results:  in  the  former  of  those  states  the 
average  sum  paid  for  instruction  in  each  school- 
district  for  that  year,  was  a  hundred  and  fourteen 


188    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Shown  by  the  School  Returns  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York. 

dollars ;  in  the  latter,  for  the  same  year,  it  amount- 
ed to  only  seventy-two  dollars.  Yet  the  systems 
of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  are  much  vaunt- 
ed for  their  excellence,  and  compared  with  those 
of  many  other  states  they  undoubtedly  deserve  all 
the  praise  that  has  been  bestowed  upon  them ;  con- 
sidered in  themselves,  however,  they  will  be  found 
to  need  great  amendment,  if  not  an  entire  recon- 
struction, before  they  can  be  said  to  have  reached 
a  proper  elevation,  and  are  capable  of  accom- 
plishing the  appropriate  objects  of  such  institutions. 
How  is  it  with  respect  to  the  compensation  of  in- 
structers  in  our  own  state  ?  According  to  the  best 
data  in  my  possession  for  forming  an  estimate,  not 
more  than  thirty  dollars  a  year  is  paid  for  instruc- 
tion in  each  school  district ;  and  this  I  believe  to 
be  rather  an  over-estimate  than  otherwise. 

These  facts  are  deeply  humiliating:  they  are 
more;  they  are  positively  alarming.  Is  it  possible 
for  a  government,  based  avowedly  on  popular  in- 
telligence, to  repose  in  safety  on  schools  main- 
tained at  so  cheap  a  rate  ?  The  very  scavengers, 
who  clean  the  streets  of  our  cities,  are  better  paid 
for  their  filthy  labour,*  than  men  to  whom  is  com- 
mitted a  trust  that  involves  the  highest  interests  of 


*  They  get  generally  a  dollar  a  day. 


HINTS  ON  POPBLAR  EDUCATION.    189 

Evils  of  this  Parsimony.    Claims  of  faithful  Schoolmasters. 

society.  No  wonder  that  ignorant  and  thriftless 
adventurers  make  up  the  body  of  our  teachers, 
that  our  children  hate  instruction,  and  that  parents 
frequently  complain  that  their  money  is  thrown 
away  on  the  common  schools.  No  doubt  it  is 
often  thrown  away,  and  even  worse  than  that,  on 
men  who  would  consent  to  labour  in  such  a  call- 
ing for  so  miserable  a  pittance. 

The  evils  of  this  parsimonious,  ill-judged  policy 
are  manifold.  It  bars  the  doors  of  our  school- 
houses  against  competent  instructors ;  it  prevents 
young  men  from  expending  either  time  or  money 
in  preparing  themselves  to  be  teachers ;  it  makes 
parents  indifferent  to  common  schools;  it  disgusts 
the  young  with  the  pursuit  of  knowledge ;  it  ren-, 
ders  the  profession  of  teaching  disreputable ;  and, 
worse  than  all,  it  produces  a  paralysis  in  the  pub- 
lic mind  in  reference  to  the  whole  matter  of  popu- 
lar education. 

Let  us  look  a  little  into  the  claims  of  a  compe- 
tetent  and  faithful  schoolmaster  to  receive  a  liberal 
compensation.  It  is  a  fair  principle,  and  one  that 
will  scarcely  be  questioned,  that  men  ought,  other 
things  being  equal,  to  be  rewarded  for  their  work 
in  proportion  to  the  expense  of  preparation  for  it, 
the  actual  labour  required,  and  the  responsibility 
which  it  involves.  I  will  not  detain  you,  gentle- 
men, to  expatiate  on  the  time  and  money  that  must 


190     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Justice  and  Policy  require  that  they  should  be  well  paid. 

be  expended  in  order  to  become  properly  qualified 
for  the  business  of  instruction;  nor  on  the  self- 
denial,  toil,  and  wear  of  nerves  which  actual  ser- 
vice requires;  nor  on  the  consequences  which 
depend  upon  the  manner  in  which  the  duties  of  the 
profession  are  performed, — consequences,  which 
extend  to  every  interest  of  society,  and  reach 
through  all  the  relations  and  destinies  of  man. 
These  things  are  undeniable ;  and  if  the  principle 
above  stated  be  a  correct  one,  then  the  teachers 
of  our  common  schools  ought  to  receive  more  for 
their  services  than  any  other  class,  except  the 
members  of  the  learned  professions.  Sheer  justice, 
then,  would  require  that  they  be  well  paid ;  sound 
policy  demands  the  same  thing.  It  is  indispensa- 
ble to  good  schools ;  it  is  especially  requisite  in 
order  to  secure  that  great  essential  element  of 
sound  instruction,  permanent  continuance  in  the 
profession  of  teaching  on  the  part  of  those  engaged 
in  it.  Will  men  continue  to  exercise  a  calling  for 
life,  which  does  not  supply  them  with  the  means 
of  maintaining  a  family?  It  cannot  be  expected, 
and  it  ought  not  to  be  desired.  Men  who  have 
studied  the  philosophy  of  the  infant  mind  in  their 
own  children,  and  who  are  accustomed  to  rule 
well  their  own  household,  will  be  better  qualified 
both  to  instruct  and  to  govern  a  school,  than  those 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    jgj 

Five  Hundred  Dollars  a  fair  average  Compensation. 

who  are  deficient  in  this  domestic  experience  and 
sympathy. 

What,  then,  would  be  a  fair  average  compensa- 
tion for  well  qualified  teachers  of  common  schools, 
— -men  trained  to  the  profession,  and  devoted  to  it 
for  life?  Any  industrious  mechanic,  with  but  a 
moderate  share  of  skill,  can  make  four  hundred 
hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  many  in  fact  realize 
much  more  than  that  as  the  annual  proceeds  of 
their  labour.  Would  you  give  an  able  school- 
master less?  That  were  to  declare  that  the  con- 
struction of  a  steam-engine,  the  building  of  a  house, 
or  the  manufacture  of  furniture  for  it,  is  both  a 
worthier  occupation  and  a  more  important  matter 
than  the  education  of  your  children.  None,  I  am 
aware,  will  avow  such  a  sentiment;  but  if  it  is 
practically  acted  upon,  where  is  the  difference? 
Four  hundred  dollars,  with  the  use  of  a  comfort- 
able house,  and  a  few  acres  of  land,  is  the  least 
average  annual  salary  that  ought  to  be  thought  of 
as  an  adequate  compensation  for  the  services  of 
well  qualified  instructers.  This  would  be  equiva- 
lent to  about  five  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  with 
such  an  average  of  remuneration,  teachers  of  ex- 
traordinary merit  would  occasionally  receive  as 
high  as  eight,  nine,  or  even  ten  hundred  dollars 
per  annum.  These  places  would  be  the  prizes  to 
stimulate  honourable  ambition,  the  rewards  of  emi- 


192     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Coat  to  the  whole  United  States  of  an  adequate  System  of  Education. 

nent  ability  and  success.  This  would  very  soon 
elevate  teaching  to  the  rank  of  a  profession ;  make 
it  respectable ;  enlist  talent  and  worth  in  the  work 
of  instruction ;  and  raise  our  schools  to  an  eleva- 
tion of  excellence,  that  would  fill  the  measure  of 
our  own  glory,  and  command  the  admiration  of 
the  world  ;  and  what  is  of  much  more  importance, 
purify  our  morals,  enlarge  our  enjoyments,  cement 
our  union,  and  give  stability  to  whatever  in  our 
institutions  is  worthy  of  a  patriotic  attachment. 

How  much  would  the  establishment,  by  the  se- 
veral members  of  our  confederacy,  of  systems  of 
public  instruction  that  should  carry  out  these  views, 
cost  the  whole  United  States  ?  The  number  of  free 
inhabitants  at  the  present  time  is  not  less  than 
twelve  millions.  It  is  estimated  that  about  one- 
fourth  of  the  population  of  a  country  ought  to  be 
in  the  common  elementary  schools.  In  Prussia, 
-Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut,  there  is  a  little 
less,  and  in  New  York  a  fraction  more  than  one- 
fourth  in  these  schools.  According  to  this  calcu- 
lation there  are  three  millions  of  children  in  the 
United  States,  whose  education  ought  to  be  pro- 
vided for  by  the  several  states.  An  average  of 
sixty  pupils  is  enough  to  form  a  district.  This 
would  give  fifty  thousand  districts  for  the  whole 
Union;  and  an  average  compensation  to  each 
teacher  of  four  hundred  dollars  per  year  would 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  193 

Twenty  millions  a  year.    Not  large  in  comparison  with  benefits  resulting. 

require  an  annual  expenditure  of  twenty  millions 
of  dollars ;  or  one  million  six  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  thousand  six  hundred  and  sixty-six  dollars  for 
every  million  of  inhabitants. 

This  appears  to  be  a  vast  sum,  and  I.  cannot 
deny  that  it  is  a  very  large  one.  Multitudes  no 
doubt  will  be  startled  by  it,  and  will  be  ready  to  ex- 
claim, "  it  is  an  expenditure  that  will  never  be  made 
for  that  object."  But  is  there  any  insuperable  ob- 
stacle in  the  way  of  it  1  Is  the  country  too  poor  to 
bear  this  expenditure  ?  Is  the  sum  in  fact  a  large 
one,  when  you  place  it  by  the  side  of  the  object  in 
view,  and  the  benefits  it  would  certainly  confer 
upon  the  nation?  Consider  what  that  object  is.  It 
is  to  elevate  men  to  the  proper  dignity  of  their  na- 
ture, by  cultivating  and  improving  their  various 
powers  of  mind  and  body,  by  teaching  them  the 
nature  and  purposes  of  these  powers,  and  by  im- 
parting to  them  as  comprehensive  a  knowledge  as 
possible  of  the  animate  and  inanimate  productions 
of  Nature,  and  their  relations  to  the  human  consti- 
tution. Consider  also  the  benefits  that  would  re- 
sult from  the  attainment  of  this  object.  The  happi- 
ness of  society  in  its  three  great  subdivisions  of 
moral,  mental,  and  physical  pleasures,  would  be 
increased  in  a  ratio  that  can  now  hardly  be  con- 
ceived of;  our  civil  immunities  would  be  establish- 
ed upon  a  basis  that  would  ensure  their  perpetuity ; 
17 


194     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

These  benefits  enumerated.    Whence  is  the  money  to  come. 

our  pecuniary  interests  themselves  would  be  ad- 
vanced; and  an  impulse  be  given  to  the  great 
cause  of  human  improvement,  which  would  tell 
upon  the  history  of  remote  tribes  and  distant  ages. 
And  now,  Gentlemen,  let  me,  in  all  sincerity,  put 
it  to  you  and  to  all  other  candid  and  intelligent 
men,  whether  twenty  millions  a  year  for  the  whole 
United  States  is  not  a  small  sum,  when  placed  in 
juxtaposition  with  these  unspeakable  advantages. 
I  feel  confident,  from  such  a  jury,  of  a  unanimous 
verdict  in  my  favour. 

But  I  hear  the  question  pouring  from  all  quar- 
ters on  my  ear,  whence  is  this  money  to  come  ? 
This  is  an  important  question,  and  I  will  endeavour 
to  give  it  a  dispassionate  and  rational  answer.  I 
will  not  detain  you  by  descanting  on  how  much 
can  be  saved  from  this  luxury  and  that  amusement, 
nor  even  upon  the  vast  expenses  of  our  very  vices, 
— though  more  than  enough  for  our  purpose  might 
be  subtracted  from  what  is  expended  in  these  ways, 
with  scarcely  any  sensible  diminution  of  the  ag- 
gregate amount.  But  I  will  let  all  that  pass,  and 
leave  every  man  in  the  quiet  enjoyment  of  such 
means  as  he  possesses,  according  to  any  plan  that 
may  chime  with  his  own  fancy  ;  and  will  proceed 
at  once  to  something  more  tangible  and  positive. 
I  will  show  you  how,  by  a  wise  and  not  over-libe- 
ral legislation  on  the  part  of  the  General  and  State 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.         195 

First  from  proceeds  of  Sales  of  Public  Lands. 

Governments,  the  sum  required  might  be  raised 
without  any  tedious  delays. 

It  may  be  assumed  as  a  postulate,  that  the  re- 
ceipts of  the  United  States  from  the  sale  of  the  pub- 
lic lands,  will  amount,  in  a  healthy  state  of  the 
country,  to  an  average  of  five  millions  a  year.  It 
is  the  opinion  of  many  of  our  wisest  statesmen,  of 
both  political  parties,  that  this  fund  is  the  property 
of  the  states  under  the  deeds  of  session  by  which 
the  lands  were  ceded  to  the  United  States;  and 
that,  therefore,  these  lands  cannot,  of  right,  be  con- 
sidered as  a  part  of  the  resources  of  the  Union,  for 
general  revenue.  This  question  I  will  not  now  stop 
to  argue;  nor  is  it  essential  for  the  attainment  of 
our  object  that  we  should  adopt  one  side  or  the 
other  of  it.  It  is  enough  that  it  be  admitted,  as  I 
suppose  it  will  be,  universally,  that  it  is  competent 
to  the- General  Government  to  make  what  dispo- 
sition it  pleases  of  the  annual  avails  of  these  lands, 
provided  it  be  for  an  object  promotive  of  the  gene- 
ral welfare.  I  propose,  then,  that  these  lands  be 
set  apart  as  a  perpetual  fund  for  the  support  of  com- 
mon schools,  the  yearly  revenue  from  which  shall 
be  distributed  to  the  states,  in  the  ratio  of  their  free 
population,  for  this  object  exclusively.  The  sub- 
traction of  this  five  millions  from  the  general  reve- 
nue would  not  be  felt  by  an  individual  being  in  the 
whole  country,  and  the  appropriation  of  it  in  the 


196          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Gov.  Vance's  Opinion.    Goes  even  beyond  the  Author's. 

way  proposed  would  furnish  at  once  one-fourth  of 
the  whole  sum  required  for  the  diffusion  of  educa- 
tion, and  that  of  a  high  order,  among  all  the  peo- 
ple of  this  Union. 

Since  the  above  paragraph  was  written,  an  ex- 
tract from  Governor  Vance's  recent  Message  to 
the  legislature  of  Ohio,  has  fallen  under  my  no- 
tice. It  was  with  no  ordinary  pleasure  that  I 
found  in  it  confirmation  of  the  soundness  and  pro- 
priety of  the  suggestions  I  have  ventured  to  make 
respecting  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands,  from  a 
statesman,  so  enlightened,  so  patriotic,  and  so  so- 
ber in  all  his  views,  as  the  present  Governor  of 
Ohio.  Governor  Vance  goes  even  a  step  beyond 
me,  and  declares  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  fund 
legally  and  equitably  belongs  to  this  object,  and 
that  congress,  in  giving  it  that  direction,  would 
not,  strictly  speaking,  entitle  itself  to  the  praise  of 
generosity,  but  would  have  done  nothing  more 
than  fulfil  a  sacred  trust,  the  execution  of  which 
is  called  for  by  every  principle  of  justice. 

"  One  of  the  first  objects,"  he  says,  "  that  should 
attract  the  attention  of  every  statesman,  is  the  ha- 
bits, condition,  and  future  prospects  of  the  youth 
of  the  state.  Through  them  we  may  read  the  fu- 
ture destiny  of  the  republic,  for  good  or  for  evil. 
If  we  suffer  them  to  grow  up  in  idleness  and  igno- 
rance, we  must  look  to  the  future  with  forebodings 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  197 

This  Fund  legally  and  equitably  belongs  to  this  Object. 

of  the  misery  and  the  degradation  that  await  our 
descendants.  Whilst  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  give 
them  industrious  habits,  guard  well  their  morals, 
and  improve  their  minds,  we  may  fondly  antici- 
pate that  our  institutions  will  be  perpetuated,  and 
our  descendants  grow  up  and  continue  in  the  en- 
joyment of  freedom,  independence,  and  prosperity. 

"  The  means  of  attaining  this  desirable  end, 
must  be  had  through  our  common  schools ;  and 
although  much  has  been  done  in  our  own  aS*well 
as  several  of  our  sister  states,  in  the  great  cause 
of  education  and  common  schools,  yet  there  is  still 
much  to  be  done  to  perfect  the  system,  so  as  to 
bring  within  the  reach  of  our  whole  population  the 
means  of  a  thorough  common  school  education. 

"  The  fund  that  legally  and  equitably  belongs  to 
this  object,  is  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands.  By  giving  it  this  direction,  which  is  loudly 
called  for  by  every  principle  of  justice,  congress 
would  do  nothing  more  than  fulfil  a  sacred  trust, 
whilst  by  withholding  it  they  incur  a  heavy  respon- 
sibility to  a  class  of  our  fellow-citizens,  whose  wants 
should  be  the  first  object  of  their  solicitude  and  at- 
tention" 

The  disposition,  here  recommended,  of  the  an- 
nual avails  of  the  public  domain,  would,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  furnish  one-fourth  of  the  sum 
shown  to  be  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of 
17* 


198  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 


Second  Source.    Interest  of  the  Moneys  deposited  with  the  Statea. 


good  popular  schools;  but  where  are  the  remain- 
ing three-fourths  to  come  from  ?  Let  us  cast  about 
a  little  to  ascertain  whether  there  are  any  other 
resources  at  hand.  When  the  late  Deposite  Act 
shall  have  been  carried  into  full  effect,  thirty-six 
millions  of  dollars  will  have  been  distributed  to  the 
several  states.  It  is  not  probable  that  this  money 
will  ever  be  demanded  back;  but,  to  make  as- 
surance doubly  sure,  I  propose  that  it  be  given  to 
the  states  with  whom  it  is  deposited,  on  the  con- 
dition that  the  interest  of  it  be  devoted  forever  to 
the  sole  object  of  improving  and  maintaining  po- 
pular schools ;  and  that  it  be  withdrawn  from  those 
states  that  decline  this  condition.  The  interest  of 
this  fund,  allowing  a  sufficiency  of  it  for  the  ex- 
penses of  its  due  management,  will  be. two  millions 
more  towards  the  amount  needed. 

Whither  shall  we  look  for  a  third  resource  to 
aid  us  in  our  work  ?  Ten  millions  of  acres  of  the 
public  lands  have  already  been  granted  to  the 
different  western  states  for  the  support  of  common 
schools.  These  lands  are  now  worth  on  an  ave- 
rage at  least  three  dollars  an  acre;  probably  much 
more.  Those  of  Michigan  were  sold  last  summer, 
during  the  height  of  the  money  pressure,  and 
brought  from  eight  to  four  hundred  and  fifty  dol- 
lars per  .acre,  or  an  average  of  about  twenty  dol- 
lars. I  propose  that  an  additional  ten  millions  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  199 

Appropriations  of  Lands.    Lastly,  Moneys  raised  by  Districts. 

acres,  of  equal  value,  be  given  to  the  other  states ; 
and  these  grants,  when  sold,  would  constitute  a 
fund  of  at  least  sixty  millions  of  dollars,  the  interest 
on  which  would  be  three  millions  annually,  over 
and  above  the  most  liberal  allowance  for  the  ex- 
pense of  managing  it. 

We  have  now  ten  millions  of  the  twenty  we 
have  shown  to  be  requisite.  Now  let  the  several 
states  in  this  Union  say  to  each  school  district 
within  their  respective  limits, — We  will  place  two 
hundred  dollars  a  year  in  your  treasury,  provided 
you  will  double  the  sum  out  of  your  own  funds, 
— and  who  can  doubt  that  a  great  majority  of  the 
districts  would  at  once,  and  thankfully,  receive  the 
boon  on  the  condition  offered  ?  And  the  number 
that  might  now  refuse  to  comply  with  such  terms, 
would,  in  less  than  ten  years,  be  dwindled  to  a 
mere  handful;  if,  indeed,  as  is  more  probable,  the 
non-complying  districts  were  not  all,  ere  that  time, 
numbered  with  the  quiddities  of  the  schoolmen. 
But  it  would  not  be  necessary,  after  a  few  years, 
to  tax  the  districts  even  in  the  proportion  here  sup- 
posed. There  are  common-school  funds  in  the 
different  states  already  endowed,  which  yield  an 
aggregate  annual  income  of  nearly  or  quite  a  mil- 
lion of  dollars.  And  let  but  a  sufficient  impulse 
be  once  given,  let  the  breeze  of  popular  favour  set 
fairly  in  the  direction  of  national  education,  and 


200     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Present  Endowments.    Individual  Bequests.    Florida  War. 

liberal-minded  individuals  will  not  be  wanting, 
who,  by  bequests  and  otherwise,  will  endow  fa- 
vourite districts  with  funds  sufficient  to  support 
their  teachers;  and  the  spectacle  even  may  yet 
be  seen  of  some  future  Wills,  Girard,  or  Smith- 
son  thus  providing  a  perpetuity  of  instruction  for 
all  the  common,  schools  in  a  whole  township. 
Hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  may  in  this  way, 
at  no  very  distant  period,  be  annually  realised  for 
the  cause  in  whose  behalf  we  are  pleading.  Does 
any  one  say  to  me,  because  I  have  presented  these 
calculations  and  propositions,  as  Festus  on  a  cer- 
tain occasion  said  to  Paul, — Thou  art  beside  thy- 
self?— I  adopt  the  noble  reply  of  Paul,  and  give  it 
in  the  full  confidence  that  it  is  a  just  one, — I  AM 

NOT,  MAD,  BUT  SPEAK  FORTH  THE  WORDS  OF  TRUTH 
AND  SOBERNESS. 

Does  the  nation  expend  grudgingly  on  other 
objects,  and  those  of  incomparably  less  import- 
ance? Has  not  the  war  in  which  she  is  now  en- 
gaged with  a  paltry  handful  of  Seminole  Indians, 
already  cost  her,  out  of  her  treasury,  over  twenty- 
five  millions  of  dollars,  and,  indirectly,  many  mil- 
lions more?  And  will  she  not  expend  twice  and 
even  thrice  that  sum,  if  need  be,  before  she  will  give 
over  the  contest,  and  succumb  to  her  foe?  No  one 
complains  of  this,  if  there  is  no  waste  in  the  expen- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    201 

Its  Expense.    Cost  of  last  War  with  Great  Britain. 

diture.  All  applaud,  however  much  they  may 
regret  it.  Did  we  not  expend  more  than  a  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  in  carrying  on  the  last  war  with 
Great  Britain  1  I  was  not  old  enough  at  that  time 
to  have  any  opinion  of  my  own  on  the  politics  of 
the  country;  but  my  father  fought  in  that  war, 
and  I  have  not  yet  seen  cause  to  honour  him  the 
less  for  it.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  a  fact,  that 
I  desire  to  be  distinctly  known,  I  would  have  it  told 
in  Gath,  and  published  in  Askelon,  and  committed 
to  the  four  winds  to  be  borne  to  every  corner  of 
the  country,  that,  if  an  amount,  equal  to  the  cost  of 
that  war,  had  been  then  invested  and  suffered  to 
accumulate  to  the  present  time,  it  would  consti- 
tute a  sum,  the  bare  interest  of  which  would  be 
more  than  the  most  ardent,  and,  if  you  please,  ex- 
travagant, friend  of  education  could  ask  for  the 
maintenance,  of  an  adequate  number  of  first-rate 
popular  schools  throughout  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  land. 

Mr.  Dick  has  shown  that  the  wars  in  which 
England  was  engaged  between  1688  and  1815,  a 
period  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven  years, 
cost  that  nation  eleven  thousand  six  hundred  and 
sixty-five  millions  of  dollars.  It  is  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  the  nations  against  which  those  Wars 
were  waged,  expended  an  equal  sum  ;  and,  if  so, 
it  gives  us  a  grand  total  of  twenty-three  thousand 


202    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Vast  Expense  of  Wars  of  Europe  between  1688  and  1815. 

three  hundred  and  thirty  millions  of  dollars  as  the 
cost  of  wars  in  which  Great  Britain  was  concern- 
ed during  that  comparatively  short  period.  Let 
us,  however,  make  every  allowance  for  an  over- 
estimate, and  call  it.  twenty  thousand  millions. 
How  much  would  this  sum  do  towards  educating 
the  world?  If  we  estimate  the  present  population 
of  the  globe  at  eight  hundred  millions,  there  will 
be  of  this  number  two  hundred  millions,  of  an  age 
suitable  for  attending  school.  An  average  of 
eighty  pupils  would  give  two  millions  five  hundred 
thousand  schools  for  the  whole  world.  Twenty 
thousand  millions  of  dollars  divided  among  these 
would  give  each  eight  thousand.  Three  thousand 
dollars  of  this  would  be  enough  to  purchase  and 
improve  twenty  acres  of  land,  to  erect  a  house 
sufficient  to  accommodate  the  school  and  the 
teacher's  family,  and  to  provide  suitable  appara- 
tus for  illustrating  the  simpler  principles  of  chemis- 
try and  experimental  philosophy.  Five  thousand 
dollars  would  still  remain  to  each  school,  which, 
if  invested  at  an  interest  of  six  per  cent.,  would 
yield  three  hundred  dollars  a  year.  Thus,  the  wars 
of  Europe,  for  the  brief  period  of  only  a  hundred 
and  odd  years,  have  cost  an  amount  of  money  suf- 
ficient to  establish  popular  schools  on  the  most  libe- 
ral scale  throughout  the  whole  world,  and  to  sup- 
ply them  with  suitable  instruction  to  the  end  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    203 

An  equal  sum  would  educate  the  whole  world  to  the  end  of  time. 

time !  Truly,  when  ambition  and  revenge  are  to 
be  gratified,  when  tyranny  is  to  be  supported, 
when  the  human  race  is  to  be  slaughtered  by  mil- 
lions, when  the  demon  of  war  is  to  be  unchained, 
and  all  the  arts  of  mischief  and  destruction  which 
he  has  devised,  are  to  be  brought  into  operation, — 
there  is  no  want  of  funds  to  carry  such  schemes 
into  effect.  But  when  it  is  a  question  of  elevating 
man  to  his  proper  place  in  the  scale  of  mental  and 
moral  being,  and  thus  augmenting  his  happiness 
beyond  all  calculation,  the  eyes  of  nations  are  sud- 
denly opened  to  behold  their  poverty,  economy  be- 
comes the  first  of  national  duties,  and  Government, 
from  an  excessive  regard  for  the  people's  money, 
refuses  to  provide  for  the  people's  most  important 
interests. 

How  long  shall  this  ill-judged  parsimony  in  the 
support  of  schools  continue  to  be  practised  by  us, 
and  be  permitted  to  remain  as  a  blot  and  stain 
upon  our  national  escutcheon  ?  That  a  more  libe- 
ral compensation  to  schoolmasters  is  essential  to 
an  efficient  education  of  the  people,  is  generally  ad- 
mitted. It  has  now  been  shown  how  this  object 
can  be  accomplished,  and  that  at  a  comparatively 
early  date,  by  the  exercise  of  a  moderate  share  of 
liberality  and  clear-sightedness  in  the  General  and 
State  Governments.  Will  the  nation  authorise  the 
necessary  expenditure  ? — an  expenditure,  be  it  re- 


204     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Earnest  Appeal  for  a  more  liberal  Policy  on  this  Matter. 

membered,  though  large  in  itself,  yet  really  small  in 
comparison  with  our  resources  as  a  nation;  and  the 
vast  objects  to  be  secured  by  it.  'Tis  an  outlay  of 
money,  not  for  the  gratification  of  ambition,  not 
for  the  butchery  of  mankind,  not  for  any  of  those 
sinister  ends  which  are  so  often  at  the  bottom  of 
laws  apparently  patriotic, — but  to  elevate  the  peo- 
ple and  multiply  their  enjoyments ;  to  diffuse  know- 
ledge and  promote  virtue ;  to  confirm  and  perpe- 
tuate liberty  ;  an  outlay,  too,  which,  if  there  be  any 
force  in  an  argument  urged  at  some  length  in  the 
first  chapter  of  this  work,  will  be  returned  more 
than  fourfold  into  her  lap.  And  force  there  must  be 
in  that  argument,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  up  to 
a  ^certain  point  education  may  be  useful  in  pro- 
moting the  pecuniary  interests  of  a  country,  but 
that,  beyond  that  point,  it  is  not  available  for  the 
same  purpose, — which  is  an  obvious  absurdity. 
And  even  if  it  were  not,  it  would  be  a  subject  of 
endless  dispute  to  determine  where  the  separating 
line  was,  and  as  impossible  to  settle  as  any  frivo- 
lous question  that  ever  tasked  the  scholastic  acu- 
men of  the  dark  ages.  Let  this  Nation,  then,  weigh 
well  her  responsibility  in  this  matter,  and  decide 
the  momentous  question  whether  or  not  her  popu- 
lar schools  shall  be  of  the  right  stamp,  according 
to  an  enlightened  perception  of  sound  policy,  and 
a  jast  sense  of  moral  obligation. 


205 


CHAPTER  V. 


BOOKS,  CABINETS,  AND  APPARATUS— LOCATION 
AND  ARCHITECTURE  OF  SCHOOL  HOUSES. 


Aversion  of  Children  to  Study — Knowledge  the  natural  Food  of 
the  Mind — Misdirected  Love  of  Knowledge  the  Occasion  of 
the  Fall  of  Man — Pleasures  of  Knowledge  exemplified  in  the 
Cases  of  Archimedes  and  Sir  Isaac  Newton — Solution  of  the 
apparent  Contradiction  involved  in  the  general  Aversion  to 
Study  and  the  innate  Love  of  Knowledge — Attributable  to  the 
Want  of  good  School-Books  and  the  Prevalence  of  bad  Me- 
thods of  Instruction — Any  other  Explanation  would  impugn 
the  Wisdom  and  Goodness  of  God — Decision  of  Reason  on 
this  Point — Testimony  of  Experience — Various  Cases  referred 
to — Letter  of  a  Young  Man  mentioned  by  Mr.   Combe — 
Branches  of  Learning  pursued  in  German  Boarding-Schools 
— The   Teacher  the  Friend  of  his  Pupils — Inspection  and 
Explanation  of  Machinery — Pedestrian  Excursions  into  the 
Country — Last  several  Weeks — Pupils  required  to  write  Jour- 
nals— The  Author's  own  Practice  while  Principal  of  the  Edge- 
hill  School — Its  Results — Improvements  made  in  School-Books 
of  late  Years — -Higher  Improvements  needed — Difficulty   of 
preparing  Text-Books  of  a  proper  Character — Requires  a  high 
Order  of  Talent  and  great  Learning  and  Experience — Gene- 
ral Principles  on  which  all  School-Books  should  be  constructed 
— Class-Books  now   in  use  compared  with  this  Standard — 
Verbal  Instruction  instead  of  real — Philosophy  of  the  Infant 
Mind  should  be  studied — The  Leadings  of  Nature  followed-^ 
Lessons  on  Objects — Biographies — Stories  of  Real  Life— Ira- 
18 


206  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Aversion  of  Children  to  Study.    Knowledge  the  Food  of  the  Mind. 

portance  of  Truth — Reading — Books  on  Natural  History  and 
cognate  Sciences — Misapprehension  guarded  against — Mis- 
cellaneous Library — Of  what  Classes  of  Works  to  be  composed 
— Cabinets  of  Natural  History — Chemical  and  Philosophical 
Apparatus — Influence  of  these  Aids — Location  and  Architec- 
ture of  School-houses — Objects  of  Importance — Present  De- 
fects— Improvements  recommended. 

THE  books,  cabinets,  and  apparatus  suitable  for 
the  use  of  common  schools  constitute  an  import- 
ant question  to  be  considered  in  forming  a  general 
system  of  education  for  the  people.  The  aversion 
of  children  to  study  has  long  been  proverbial.  Yet 
knowledge  is  the  natural  food  of  the  mind.  The 
soul  craves  it  as  instinctively  as  a  new-born  infant 
desires  the  milk  that  nourishes  its  tender  frame. 
It  was  the  desire  of  knowledge,  misdirected  and 
stimulated  to  an  undue  degree  by  an  artful  master 
of  the  human  heart,  that 

"  Brought  death  into  the  world,  and  all  our  wo, 
With  loss  of  Eden." 

And  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  which  always 
yields  a  calm  satisfaction,  when  prosecuted  upon 
principles  which  do  not  violate  the  laws  of  our 
intellectual  being,  is  sometimes  attended  with  a  de- 
light as  intense  as  that  which  accompanies  a  sud- 
den influx  of  wealth,  a  successful  canvass  for  high 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    207 

Pleasures  of  Knowledge.    Cause  of  Aversion  to  Stud}-. 

office,  or  a  brilliant  military  victory.  Witness  the 
almost  frantic  exultation  of  Archimedes  on  the 
discovery  of  a  method  for  testing  the  purity  of  the 
golden  crown  of  Hiero;  and  the  still  more  remark- 
able manifestation  of  delight  in  the  great  Newton, 
when,  on  verifying  his  theory  of  gravitation,  as  he 
approached  the  end  of  his  calculations  and  saw 
that  his  abstract  ratiocination  was  about  to  be  con- 
firmed by  the  results  of  observation,  the  intensity 
of  this  pleasure  deprived  him  of  all  power  over  the 
nerves  of  motion,  and  he  was  obliged  to  call  in  the 
aid  of  another  hand  to  complete  the  operation. 

Can  the  aversion  to  study  alluded  to  above,  and 
this  innate  love  of  knowledge,  be  reconciled  with 
each  other  ?  The  two  views  would  seem  to  in- 
volve a  palpable  contradiction  ;  yet  they  are  sus- 
ceptible of  a  satisfactory  solution.  The  true  rea- 
son why  study  is  not  generally  a  source  of  plea- 
sure to  the  young  will  be  found,  unless  I  greatly 
err,  in  the  want  of  school-books  prepared  on  sound 
philosophical  principles,  and  the  prevalence  of 
those  unphilosophical  methods  of  instruction,  which 
have  arisen  out  of  the  employment  of  ignorant  and 
inexperienced  teachers.  The  soul  cries  after  know- 
ledge, and  lifts  up  its  voice  for  understanding ;  and 
its  importunities  are  answered  with  words,  words, 
words — vox  et  pr&terea  nihil.  It  asks  for  bread, 
and  it  receives  air. 


208     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Our  Faculties  adapted  to  Learning.    Decision  of  lleason. 

Any  other  explanation,  it  seems  to  me,  would 
be  an  impugning  of  both  the  wisdom  and  good- 
ness of  the  Creator.  He  has  implanted  in  the  hu- 
man soul  an  ardent  thirst  for  knowledge.  He  has 
endowed  it  with  capacities  fitted  to  rise  from  ob- 
ject to  object,  and  to  range  from  system  to  sys- 
tem, in  an  endless  search  after  truth,  and  an  eter- 
nal approximation  towards  the  Source  of  Truth. 
He  has  expressly  declared  in  his  Word  that  it  is 
not  good  for  the  soul  to  be  without  knowledge; 
and,  if  the  principles  of  analogy,  and  the  earnest 
longings  of  the  soul  itself,  nay,  if  various  not  ob- 
scure passages  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  afford 
ground  for  a  judgment,  the  pursuit  of  knowledge, 
— the  everlasting  study  of  the  works  and  ways  of 
God, — will  form  the  principal  employment  and 
happiness  of  eternity.  And  can  these  glorious 
truths  be  reconciled  with  the  wisdom  and  benevo- 
lence of  such  a  mental  constitution  as  necessarily 
makes  the  act  of  learning  a  mere  drudgery  and 
weariness — an  object  of  disgust  and  hatred  ?  Rea- 
son, speaking  from  the  temple  of  Truth,  where  she 
is  the  presiding  divinity,  utters  an  emphatic  nega- 
tive. The  healthy  and  assured  growth  of  the 
mind,  the  mastery  over  general  principles,  and 
the  growing  ability  to  apply  them  successfully  in 
the  investigation  of  truth  and  the  attainment  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          209 

Testimony  of  Experience.    Various  Examples. 

knowledge,  cannot  but  yield  a  pleasure  pure,  sa- 
tisfying, and  durable. 

What  says  Experience?  Her  testimony,  when 
fairly  given,  is  equally  clear  and  decisive.  Of  this 
any  one  may  easily  satisfy  himself  by  entering  the 
school  of  an  instructor  who  understands  the  me- 
chanism of  the  human  mind,  and  adapts  his  in- 
structions to  the  principles  of  its  structure.  I  have 
seen  the  attention  of  mere  children  as  steadily 
fixed,  and  their  interest  as  warmly  excited,  in  re- 
ceiving elementary  instructions  on  the  dry  subject 
of  Latin  Grammar,  as  they  could  have  been  in 
listening  to  the  graphic  details  of  some  interesting 
story.  I  have  seen  the  attention  of  a  class  of  over 
thirty  lads  kept  up  for  more  than  an  hour,  without 
the  least  appearance  of  weariness  in  a  single  in- 
stance, by  a  recitation  in  Sallust.  There  are,  in 
fact,  probably  few  persons  who  have  not  beheld 
how  the  young,  when  a  skilful  instructer  has  been 
communicating  new  truths  to  them  in  an  intel- 
ligible manner,  have  hung  upon  his  lips,  and 
drunk  in  his  words,  as  the  thirsty  earth  imbibes 
the  refreshing  shower.  A  distinguished  mem- 
ber of  the  editorial  profession  informed  me  that, 
when  engaged  in  teaching,  in  his  younger  days, 
he  had  a  class  of  young  ladies  in  Paley's  Na- 
tural Theology.  He  was  unable  at  first  to  ex- 
cite any  interest  in  it ;  and  the  class  continued  to 
18* 


210          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

German  Boarding-schools.    Branches  taught  in  them. 

complain  of  its  dryness,  till  he  hit  upon  the  plan  of 
presenting  sensible  illustrations  of  its  principles, 
when  suddenly  Paley  became  the  most  popular 
and  fascinating  study  in  the  school ;  and  most  even 
of  the  other  pupils,  though  dismissed  and  at  liberty 
to  go  home,  regularly  remained  to  listen  to  the  re- 
citation on  that  author. 

A  young  gentleman,  mentioned  by  Mr.  Combe, 
in  his  Lectures  on  Education,  in  writing  from 
Cassel  to  his  friend  in  Edinburgh,  presents  the  fol- 
lowing lively  and  instructive  picture  of  the  Ger- 
man boarding-schools.  "In  German  boarding- 
schools,"  he  says,  "  natural  history  is  a  prominent 
object  of  pursuit,  and  the  boys  are  instructed  in 
the  outlines  of  Zoology,  Ornithology,  Entomology, 
and  Mineralogy.  This,  I  believe,  is  a  branch  of 
education  never  taught  in  seminaries  of  the  same 
description  in  Britain ;  but  it  is  devoured  by  the 
learners  on  the  continent  with  the  utmost  avidity. 
There  the  teacher  is  not  an  object  of  fear,  but  the 
friend  of  his  pupils.  He  takes  them,  about  once 
a  fortnight,  to  visit  some  manufactory  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, where  they  are  generally  received  with 
kindness,  and  are  conveyed  through  the  whole 
building  by  the  owners,  who  seem  to  have  plea- 
sure in  pointing  out  the  uses  of  the  various  parts 
of  the  machinery,  and  in  explaining  to  their  juve- 
nile visiters  the  different  operations  that  are  car- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.           211 

Examination  of  Manufactories.    Pedestrian  Excursions. 

ried  on.  Suppose,  for  example,  that  an  expedition 
is  undertaken  to  a  paper-mill ;  the  boys  begin  their 
scrutiny  by  inspecting  the  rags  in  the  condition  in 
which  they  are  at  first  brought  in ;  then  they  are 
made  to  remark  the  processes  of  cutting  them, 
of  forming  the  paste,  of  sizing  the  paper,  &c.,  with 
the  machinery  by  which  all  this  is  executed.  On 
their  return,  they  are  required  to  write  out  an  ac- 
count of  the  manufactory,  and  of  the  operations 
performed  in  it,  and  of  the  manufactured  article. 

"  During  the  summer  months,  pedestrian  excur- 
sions are  undertaken,  extending  to  a  period  of  per- 
haps two,  three,  or  four  weeks.  Every  thing  worthy 
of  attention  is  pointed  out  to  the  boys  as  they  go 
along ;  and  deviations  are  made  on  all  sides,  for 
the  purpose  of  inspecting  every  manufactory,  old 
castle,  or  other  remarkable  objects  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood. Minerals,  plants,  and  insects  are  col- 
lected as  they  proceed,  and  thus  they  begin  early 
to  appreciate  and  enjoy  the  beauties  of  external 
nature.  If  they  happen  to  be  travelling  in  the 
mountainous  districts  of  the  Hartz,  they  descend 
into  the  mines,  and  see  the  methods  of  excavating 
the  ore,  working  the  shafts,  and  ventilating  and 
draining  the  mine.  Ascending  again  to  the  sur- 
face, they  become  acquainted  with  the  machinery 
by  which  the  minerals  are  brought  up,  the  pro- 
cesses of  separating  the  ore  from  the  sulphur,  and 


212     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

The  Effect  of  these  Journeys  beneficial  on  Mind  and  Body. 

the  silver  from  the  lead,  and  the  mode  in  which 
the  former  metal  is  coined  into  money. 

"  Having  become  familiar  with  these  operations, 
the  boys  next,  perhaps,  visit  the  iron  works,  and 
here  a  new  scene  of  gratification  is  opened  up  to 
their  faculties.  The  furnaces,  the  principles  of 
the  different  kinds  of  bellows,  the  methods  of  cast- 
ing the  iron  and  forming  the  moulds, — every  thing, 
in  short,  is  presented  to  their  senses,  and  fully  ex- 
pounded to  them.  In  like  manner,  they  are  taken 
to  the  salt  works,  and  manufactories  of  glass, 
porcelain,  acids,  alkalies,  and  other  chemical  bo- 
dies, with  which  that  part  of  Germany  abounds. 
If  any  mineral  springs  be  in  the  neighbourhood, 
these  are  visited,  and  the  nature  and  properties  of 
the  waters  explained.  In  short,  no  opportunity  is 
neglected,  by  which  additions  to  their  knowledge 
may  be  made.  This  knowledge,  too,  is  of  a 
kind  that  remains  indelibly  written  on  their  me- 
mory, and  that  is  often  recalled  in  after  life  with 
pleasure  and  satisfaction. 

"  These  journeys  not  oply  have  a  beneficial 
effect  on  the  mind,  but  also  conduce,  in  no  small 
degree,  to  the  growth  and  consolidation  of  the 
body.  They  are  performed  by  short  and  easy 
stages  so  as  not  to  occasion  fatigue. 

"  On  their  return  home,  the  boys  write  an  ac- 
count of  their  travels,  in  which  they  describe  the 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          213 

Boys  required  to  write  an  Account  of  them. 

nature  of  the  country  through  which  they  have 
passed,  and  its  various  productions,  minerals,  and 
manufactures.  This  is  corrected  and  improved 
by  the  teacher.  The  minerals  and  plants  which 
have  been  collected,  serve  at  school  to  illustrate 
the  lessons.  The  boys  also  go  through  a  regular 
course  of  study,  and  receive  lessons  in  religion, 
geography,  French,  and  the  elements  of  geometry. 
They  are  taught  also  the  elements  of  astronomy ; 
not  merely  the  abstract  particulars  generally  given 
in  courses  of  geography  in  Britain,  relative  to  the 
moon's  distance,  the  diameter  and  period  of  revo- 
lution of  the  earth,  and  the  like,  but  also  the  rela- 
tive positions  of  the  principal  constellations.  The 
figure  of  cubes,  cones,  octagons,  pyramids,  and 
other  geometrical  figures,  are  impressed  upon  the 
minds  of  the  junior  boys  by  pieces  of  wood,  cut  in 
the  proper  shapes.  Latin  is  taught  to  those  who 
particularly  desire  it.  Poles  are  erected  in  the 
garden  for  gymnastics,  and  boys  receive  every 
encouragement  to  take  muscular  exercise." 

I  offer  no  apology  for  the  length  of  this  ex- 
tract, because,  apart  from  its  interesting  statements 
of  fact,  it  shows  how  much  pleasure  the  pursuit  of 
knoVledge  affords,  when  things  are  learned  instead 
of  words,  and  the  faculties  of  observation  and 
reflection  are  called  into  active  exercise ;  and  be- 
cause,— I  may  perhaps  be  pardoned  the  vanity  of 


214          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

The  Author's  practice  while  Principal  of  the  Edgehill  School. 

saying, — it  confirms  the  wisdom  of  what  I  was 
myself  in  the  constant  habit  of  doing  in  my  con- 
duct of  the  Edgehill  School.  The  same  principle 
was  there  adopted,  though  it  was  not  carried  out 
to  the  full  extent  described  above.  The  pupils 
were  always,  during  the  summer  months,  and 
sometimes  in  the  winter,  taken  once  or  twice  on 
an  excursion  of  fifteen  to  twenty  miles,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  most  interesting  objects  were 
sought  out,  their  attention  was  directed  to  a  minute 
examination  of  them,  they  were  required  to  take 
notes  of  their  observations,  and,  on  their  return,  a 
full  description  in  writing  of  all  they  had  seen,  and 
of  all  that  had  happened,  was  exacted  of  each  one. 
Whenever  any  day  of  extraordinary  interest  had 
passed,  such  as  the  Fourth  of  July,  Christmas, 
New  Year's,  or  the  College  Commencement,  it 
was  usual  to  require  a  descriptive  composition 
on  it  from  the  whole  school.  This  also  was  fre- 
quently the  case  with  respect  to  the  ordinary  holi- 
days, when  they  had  been  wandering  abroad  un- 
der the  care  of  their  teachers.  These  were  found 
to  be  among  the  most  improving  as  well  as  pleas- 
ing exercises  within  the  range  of  school  duties. 

Reason  and  experience,  then,  unite  in  declaring 
that  there  is  nothing  in  study  inherently  displeasing 
and  irksome  to  the  young ;  but  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, the  pursuit  of  knowledge  on  principles  in 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          215 

The  Acquisition  of  Knowledge  may  always  be  a  Source  of  Pleasure. 

harmony  with  our  mental  constitution,  is  eminently 
fitted  to  afford  pleasure  as  well  as  profit.  Good 
class-books,  wise  modes  of  conveying  truth  to  the 
mind,  a  due  intermixture  of  experiment  and  sen- 
sible illustration  with  study,  and  the  possession  by 
the  teacher  of  copious  knowledge,  a  ready  imagi- 
nation, and  a  lively  interest  in  and  sympathy  with 
his  pupils,  will  always  make  the  school-room  a 
pleasant  place,  and  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 
a  never-failing  spring  of  gratification. 

I  am  not  of  the  number  of  those  who  hold  the 
modern  empiricism  that  learning  may  be  made  a 
mere  pastime.  It  is  the  law  of  the  Creator  that 
nothing  really  valuable  can  be  gained  without 
labour.  Nor  am  I  disposed  to  deny  that,  with 
perhaps  some  changes  for  the  worse,  many  and 
important  improvements  have  been  made  of  late 
years  in  school-books.*  But,  notwithstanding  this 
admission,  it  is  clear  that  this  class  of  works  has 
not  hitherto  enlisted  that  amount  of  learning,  that 


*  Mr.  Emerson's  (bur  class-books,  designed  to  teach  reading 
in  common  schools,  are  decidedly  the  best  for  that  purpose  that 
have  ever  fallen  under  my  notice.  They  proceed  upon  the  phi- 
losophical principle  of  the  progressive  developement  of  the  infant 
faculties ;  and  are  really  very  great  improvements  on  the  books 
formerly  in  use. 


216    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

School-books.    High  Order  of  Talent  required  to  write  them. 

reach  of  experience,  and  that  order  of  talent,  which 
are  essential  to  the  production  of  such  books  as 
are  needed.  Nothing  is  easier  than  to  write 
school-books  of  a  certain  kind ;  but  such  as  will 
stand  the  test  of  sound  criticism,  and  commend 
themselves  to  the  judgment  of  the  truly  wise,  are 
extremely  difficult  of  execution.  To  combine  the 
requisite  brevity  with  just  that  degree  of  fulness 
which  is  necessary  to  excite  and  gratify  the  ar- 
dent imagination  of  the  young,  to  be  simple  with- 
out degenerating  into  puerility,  to  seize  upon  the 
most  important  truths  and  the  fittest  mode  of 
communicating  them,  and,  above  all,  to  conduct 
the  learner  always  by  judicious  gradations,  from 
the  simplest  elements  of  knowledge  to  the  sublime 
revelations  of  science  and  the  eternal  principles  of 
morality, — these  constitute  a  labour  that  may  well 
task  the  powers  of  the  most  gifted  and  best  fur- 
nished minds. 

There  are  a  few  general  principles  which  every 
writer  and  compiler  of  class-books  for  the  use  of 
common  schools,  ought  to  take  for  his  guide,  and 
of  which  he  should  never  for  a  moment  lose  sight. 
First,  the  subject,  the  thoughts,  and  the  lan- 
guage, should  be  level  to  the  comprehension  of 
the  persons  for  whom  the  works  are  intended. 
Secondly,  the  utmost  pains  should  be  taken  to  im- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.  217 

Principles  on  which  to  be  prepared.  Examination  of  Books  now  in  use. 

'  part  to  every  portion  of  them  a  high  moral  tone, 
or  at  least  to  exclude  every  thing  in  the  smallest 
degree  immoral  in  its  tendency.  Thirdly,  every 
page,  and  even  every  paragraph,  ought  to  be  made 
to  convey  some  useful  knowledge.  And  fourthly, 
facts  alone  should  be  introduced,  to  the  entire  ex- 
clusion of  fiction  of  every  kind. 

Will  the  class-books  now  in  use  in  our  common 
schools  stand  the  test  of  an  examination  on  these 
principles?  Alas,  it  is  not  many  years  since  that 
every  one  of  them  was  violated  upon  nearly  every 
page  of  these  works;  and  the  old  books  still  main- 
tain a  good  portion  of  the  ground  against  those 
prepared  upon  a  somewhat  improved  plan.  Books 
consisting  of  extracts,  elegant  in  themselves,  but 
altogether  -  incomprehensible  to  young  children, 
were  universally,  and  still  are  to  a  considerable 
extent,  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  learner,  as  soon 
as  he  had  achieved  a  doubtful  conquest  over  the 
reading  lessons  in  the  spelling-book.  Nor  was  this 
all,  or  even  the  worst.  Many  of  the  extracts  were 
immoral  in  their  tendency,  inasmuch  as  they  were 
calculated  to  feed  the  sentiments  of  pride,  ambi- 
tion, and  revenge,  and  to  excite  an  admiration  of 
war,  if  not  a  taste  for  it,  by  the  praises  lavished 
upon  the  so  called  heroism  of  some  of  the  foulest 
and  most  wholesale  murderers  the  earth  ever  pro- 
duced ; — the  Alexanders,  the  Caesars,  and  the 
19 


218          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Instruction  is  verbal.    Should  be  real.    Curiosity  of  Children. 

Napoleons,  who  burnt  incense  only  at  the  shrine 
of  their  own  ambition,  whose  best  deeds  sprung 
from  unworthy  motives,  who  perpetrated,  without 
compunction,  or  at  least  without  hesitation,  the 
blackest  crimes,  and  who  stopped  not  at  the 
slaughter  of  millions  of  human  beings,  in  order 
that  they  might  gratify  the  nefarious  ambition  of 
treading  upon  the  necks  of  subjugated  empires. 

One  of  the  most  crying  defects  of  school-books 
is,  that  the  instruction  they  convey  is  verbal  in- 
stead of  real;  they  deal  in  words  rather  than 
things.  No  fault  can  be  more  fatal  to  the  solid 
progress  of  the  pupil,  or  more  likely  to  give  him  a 
distaste  for  study.  It  is  a  sin  against  nature,  a  di- 
rect warfare  upon  the  order  of  Providence.  What 
do  we  observe  in  children,  if  we  take  the  trouble 
to  watch  their  infant  movements  ?  An  ardent,  an 
irrepressible  thirst  for  examining  every  object  that 
falls  in  their  way.  The  world  is  all  fresh  to  them, ' 
and  the  feeling  of  wonder  is  predominant  in  their 
minds.  When  they  get  hold  of  a  new  thing,  they 
examine  it  with  all  their  senses, — they  look  at  it, 
handle  it,  taste  it,  smell  it,  and  are  not  satisfied  till 
after  repeated  examinations.  And  many  a  time 
has  a  poor  urchin,  condemned  to  pore  over  un- 
meaning or  incomprehensible  sentences  for  hours 
together,  been  flogged  for  obeying  this  law  of  his 
nature,  when  the  master  was  infinitely  more  de- 
serving of  chastisement  than  the  scholar. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          319 

Nature  to  be  consulted.  Lessons  on  Objects.  Biographies  and  Real  Stories. 

It  is  the  humble  business  of  the  educationist  to 
consult  nature,  and  to  follow  her  leadings  in  train- 
ing the  youthful  faculties.  Lessons  on  objects  are, 
therefore,  the  first  that  should  engage  the  attention 
of  young  learners.  An  excellent  little  work  under 
this  title  has  been  prepared  by  Dr.  Mayo,  of  Eng- 
land, for  the  use  of  teachers.  These  lessons  teach 
things  primarily,  and  words  incidentally.  But 
they  teach  even  words  more  effectively  than  that 
system  in  which  word-teaching  is  the  principal 
and  not  the  accessory,  because  each  word  be- 
comes inseparably  associated  with  the  object  or 
quality  of  which  it  is  the  sign,  and  therefore  con- 
veys a  real  meaning.  Dr.  Mayo's  work  would 
furnish  hints,  and  in  part  materials,  for  the  con- 
struction of  an  early  reading-book  in  schools.  It 
would  be  no  objection  to  such  a  book,  that  its  con- 
tents had  been  made  familiar  to  the  pupils  in  a  dif- 
ferent way  ;  on  the  contrary,  this  would  be  an  ad- 
vantage. Children  are  always  delighted  to  find 
in  books  what  they  already  know.  Hence  it  would 
be  well  if  the  first  lessons  in  reading  could  always 
be  made  to  convey  ideas  before  familiar  to  their 
minds. 

A  small  book,  consisting  of  short  biographies  of 
men  eminent  for  their  virtues  and  usefulness,  and 
written  in  a  familiar,  sprightly  style,  and  of  sim- 
ple moral  stories  from  real  life,  would  be  equally 
entertaining  and  useful  in  learning  to  read.  I  in- 


220     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Importance  of  Truth.  School-books  should  deal  in  Facts.  Selections. 

sist  upon  the  stories  being  real  occurrences,  and 
upon  the  biographies  being  prepared  with  the 
most  scrupulous  regard  to  accuracy.  It  is  a  great 
advantage,  when  a  teacher  can  say  to  a  child  in 
putting  a  new  work  into  his  hands,  "  This  book 
contains  nothing  that  is  not  TRUE."  Truth  is  to  the 
character  what  the  mainspring  is  to  a  watch ;  it  is, 
by  pre-eminence,  the  hinging  virtue.  It  is,  more- 
over, congenial  to  the  mind.  A  mind  soundly  con- 
stituted, and  well  disciplined,  will  always  prefer  it 
to  fiction,  even  for  the  pleasure  it  affords.  And 
what  a  preponderating  weight  is  given  to  it  by  the 
consideration  that  facts,  however  and  whenever 
obtained,  when  they  are  once  laid  by  in  the  me- 
mory, are  always  there,  ready  to  be  drawn  forth 
for  use,  as  occasion  requires.  No  opportunity, 
therefore,  should  be  omitted,  no  means  neglected, 
for  exciting  a  love  of  truth  in  the  youthful  bosom, 
and  inducing  a  practical  regard  for  it  in  all  the 
transactions  of  subsequent  life.  As  an  appropriate 
companion  to  this,  a  volume  containing  judicious 
and  interesting  selections  from  voyages  and  travels, 
would  form  a  valuable  work. 

Well  written  works  on  natural  history,  botany, 
physiology,  and  anatomy,  would  be  as  useful  in 
learning  to  read  as  any  others,  and  they  would  be 
attended  with  the  additional  advantage  of  convey- 
ing into  the  mind  a  large  fund  of  various  and  im- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    221 

Reading-books  on  Natural  History  and  other  Subjects.  Works  required. 

portant  information.  They  should,  however,  al- 
ways be  illustrated  by  real  specimens  when  attain- 
able, and  at  all  events  by  good  engravings, 
coloured  after  nature,  and  all  upon  the  same 
scale. 

To  carry  out  the  views  recommended  in  the 
second  chapter  of  this  work,  several  school-books, 
on  entirely  new  subjects,  would  have  to  be  written/ 
The  four  principles  already  laid  down,  it  is  be- 
lieved, constitute  a  safe  and  sufficient  code  for  the 
preparation  of  class-books  on  any  subject. 

A  word  or  two  may  be  necessary  here  in  expla- 
nation, to  guard  against  misapprehension.  In  what 
has  been  said  on  existing  school-books,  I  trust  I 
have  not  sinned  against  justice,  nor  been  wanting 
in  liberality.  Recent  improvements  have  -been 
freely  admitted,  and  some  of  them  pointed  out  and 
specially  commended  ;  and  I  would  now  add,  more 
distinctly,  that  text-books  on  some  subjects  are  al- 
ready in  existence,  as  nearly  perfect  as  things  hu- 
man can  usually  hope  to  become.  Besides  text- 
books on  all  the  subjects  taught,  skilfully  prepared 
on  principles  adapted  to  the  juvenile  mind,  there 
ought  to  be  in  every  school,  for  the  use  of  the  mas- 
ter and  scholars,  a  well  selected  miscellaneous  li- 
brary of  a  few  hundred  volumes,  chiefly  on  the 
subjects  of  religion,  education,  history,  biography, 
agriculture,  economics,  the  mechanic  arts,  and 
19* 


222          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

School  Libraries.    Cabinets.    Philosophical  Apparatus. 

the  natural  sciences.  Small  cabinets  of  natural 
history,  including  specimens  in  mineralogy,  bota- 
ny, ornithology,  and  zoology,  might  be  collected 
by  the  teachers  and  pupils  themselves,  at  little  or 
no  expense ;  to  which  additions  might  be  constant- 
ly making,  by  means  of  exchanges  with  other 
schools.  It  is  desirable  that  the  principal  schools 
should  be  gradually  furnished  with  such  cheap  and 
simple  apparatus  as  will  serve  to  exhibit  the  more 
important  principles  and  interesting  phenomena  of 
chemistry  and  natural  philosophy.  The  influence 
of  these  various  aids  to  learning  could  not  be  other- 
wise than  beneficial  in  a  variety  of  respects.  They 
would  promote  a  taste  for  reading,  excite  a  spirit 
of  inquiry,  direct  the  attention  of  pupils  to  things 
instead  of  names,  blend  amusement  with  instruc- 
tion, enlarge  the  circle  of  thought,  and  lay  a 
broader  foundation  for  continued  self-improvement 
in  subsequent  life. 

The  location  and  architecture  of  school-houses 
are  matters  of  considerable  importance,  which 
have  not  hitherto  received  the  attention  they  de- 
serve. These  edifices  have  generally  been  con- 
structed with  a  principal  reference  to  economy, 
and  with  an  almost  total  disregard  of  taste  and  con- 
venience. They  are  often  placed  in  the  bleakest 
situation  in  the  whole  district,  without  a  tree,  a 
flower,  or  scarcely  a  blade  of  grass,  to  relieve  the 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     223 

Location  of  School-Houses.    Architecture.    Inattention  to  these  Matters. 

eye,  or  any  thing  to  protect  them  from  the  chilling 
sweep  of  the  winter's  winds,  and  the  glare  and  heat 
of  the  summer's  suns.  They  are  almost  univer- 
sally forbidding  objects  to  the  sight,  and  ill-ar- 
ranged, ill-ventilated,  and  comfortless  as  places  of 
study-  Now  there  is  utterly  a  fault  in  this  matter. 
The  scenes  and  phenomena  of  external  nature — 
the  earth,  with  its  beauties  of  mountain  and  valley 
— of  stream  and  cataract — of  beast  and  bird,  and 
tree  and  flower,  and  the  boundless  heavens,  with 
their  ever  shining  garniture — do  not,  indeed,  exert 
that  power  over  the  mind  and  heart  that  the  so- 
ciety of  human  beings  does ;  yet  their  influence  is 
of  so  much  importance  that  it  is  not  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  overlook  it  in  the  education  of  the 
young.  Such  a  position,  therefore,  should  be  se- 
lected for  the  site  of  a  house  of  education  as  com- 
bines the  greatest  number  of  natural  beauties  and 
advantages  possible  under  the  circumstances  ;  and 
then  the  hand  of  taste  should  be  employed  to  aug- 
ment and  enrich  them,  so  as  to  invest  the  whole 
place  with  a  sweet  and  attractive  air.  The  build- 
ing itself  ought  to  be  constructed  with  a  prime  re- 
gard to  neatness,  convenience,  and  health;  so  that 
there  should  be  nothing  unsightly  in  its  aspect — 
nothing  uncomfortable,  or  prejudicial  to  health  in 
its  arrangements — nothing,  in  short,  repulsive  or 
chilling  in  its  whole  appearance  and  structure.  It 


224  HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

School-Houses  should  be  large  enough  for  School  and  Master's  Family. 

is  commonly  the  case,  in  Prussia,  that  the  same 
building  accommodates  both  the  school  and  the 
teacher's  family.  This  is  probably  the  best  ar- 
rangement, and  it  would  be  desirable,  if  possible, 
gradually  to  introduce  it  into  our  own  practice. 


225 


CHAPTER   VI. 

GENERAL  ORGANIZATION— OBSTACLES— EN- 
COURAGEMENTS. 


A  good  Organic  Constitution  necessary  to  the  efficiency  of  a  sys- 
tem of  Popular  Education — A  Consideration  of  the  Objects  to 
be  accomplished  by  it  necessary  to  its  Formation — Various 
Officers  essential — Their  Services  should  be  remunerated — 
Organization  should  be  as  simple  as  possible — Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction — County  Commissioners — Trustees  for 
Townships — School  Inspectors — Their  various  Duties — Means 
for  securing  Regular  Attendance  of  Pupils,  and  Fidelity  in 
Teachers — Diffidence  with  which  these  Suggestions  are  made 
— Consideration  of  Obstacles — Indifference  of  the  People — 
Various  Proofs  of  it — Lagging  Legislation — Feebleness  of  Vo- 
luntary Associations — Periodicals  on  Education  unsupported 
— Difficulty  of  removing  this  Indifference — Admitted  Costli- 
ness a  great  Obstacle — Ought  not  to  be — Friends  of  Educa- 
tion must  be  content  to  labour  for  remote  Results — Obstacles 
arising  from  Points  in  our  Social  System,  and  Traits  in  our 
National  Character — The  Lust  of  Wealth  and  the  Leaven  of 
Agitation  hinder  Reform — Multiplication  and  Intermingling 
of  Religious  Sects  a  Hindrance — Remoteness  and  Impalpable 
nature  of  the  Benefits  to  be  gained  a  great  Impediment — Our 
duty  to  provide  for  Posterity — This  duty  plainly  written  on  the 
Creator's  Plan— Pleasure  arising  from  its  Performance — En- 
couragements— Indifference  giving  way — Much  has  been  al- 
ready accomplished — Formation  of  Lyceums — Example  of 


S226          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Organic  Constitution  of  the  System.    Diversity  of  Opinion. 

other  Countries — Popular  Education  not  a  Political  Question 
— The  Press  unanimous  in  its  Favour — Concluding  Appeal  to 
Statesmen  and  Legislators. 

IT  will  be  in  vain  for  any  of  our  State  Govern- 
ments to  provide  with  even  princely  liberality  for 
the  instruction  and  support  of  popular  schools,  and 
to  prescribe  the  most  comprehensive  course  of 
study,  unless  it  also  gives  to  its  system  such  an  or- 
ganic constitution  as  will  ensure  practical  efficien- 
cy in  its  operations.  What  this  general  organiza- 
tion should  be,  is  a  question  on  which  great  diver- 
sity of  opinion  is  likely  to  exist.  On  the  other 
points  discussed  in  these  hints,  I  not  only  feel  as- 
sured, Gentlemen,  that  your  views  will  coincide 
with  mine,  but  I  have  some  confidence  that  I  shall 
unite  the  suffrages  of  a  majority  of  the  friends  of 
education  throughout  the  country.  In  reference 
to  the  question  now  to  be  considered,  I  entertain 
no  such  hope.  A  variety  of  plans  might  be  pro- 
posed, any  of  which  would  be  efficient  for  the  ob- 
ject in  view.  It  would,  therefore,  be  presumption, 
perhaps,  in  any  one  to  suppose  that  an  organiza- 
tion according  to  his  particular  notions,  would  be 
the  best  possible ;  certainly  I  should  esteem  it  as 
such  in  myself.  Nevertheless,  I  have  opinions  on 
the  subject ;  and  I  should  regard  my  present  un- 
dertaking as  incomplete,  if  I  withheld  them  from 
the  public.  My  plan  is  better  suited  to  a  small 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 


Objects  to  be  accomplished.    Services  better  rendered  when  paid  for. 

state  than  to  a  large  one,  and  I  frankly  avow  that 
I  have  our  own  commonwealth  in  my  eye,  in  en- 
tering upon  the  exposition  of  it. 

It  is  well  to  understand  definitely  what  objects 
we  propose  to  accomplish  by  this  organic  consti- 
tution. Clear  ideas  on  this  preliminary  point  will 
afford  us  essential  aid  in  our  subsequent  inquiries. 
What,  then,  are  the  objects  contemplated?  The 
great  object  is  the  sound  and  thorough  education 
of  all  the  children  in  the  state.  But  this  must  be 
reached  through  the  attainment  of  subordinate  ob- 
jects. The  chief  of  these  are  to  secure,  first,  faith- 
fulness in  the  teacher;  secondly,  a  regular  attend- 
ance on  the  part  of  pupils  ;  thirdly,  fidelity  in  the 
disbursement  of  the  public  money  appropriated  to 
this  cause;  and  lastly,  full  returns  to  the  Legisla- 
ture, showing  the  annual  results  of  the  system 
adopted.  These  ends  can  be  attained  only  through 
the  agency  of  various  state,  county,  and  township 
officers,  and  certain  statutory  enactments. 

Services  of  every  description  are,  as  a  general 
thing,  more  cheerfully  and  faithfully  rendered, 
when  paid  for.  Let  us  start,  then,  with  this  pos- 
tulate, that  all  the  officers  employed  are  to  be 
adequately  remunerated,  either  by  salary,  or  by 
per  diem  allowances.  We  shall  find  our  account 
in  this,  in  whatever  aspect  it  may  be  regarded. 
Let  us  also  lay  down  another  principle  for  our 


228     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Simplicity  in  the  organic  Law  recommended.    Four  Classes  of  Officers. 

guidance,  viz.  that  the  machinery  of  the  system 
should  be  characterized  by  as  much  simplicity  as 
is  compatible  with  its  efficient  action.  That  of 
Prussia  is  too  complex,  too  much  intertwisted, 
too  military.  One  could  easily  infer  from  its  mul- 
tiform structure  that  the  country  where  it  prevails 
is  familiar  with  standing  armies. 

I  propose  the  appointment  of  four  classes  of 
officers,  viz.  a  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion, a  Commissioner  of  Common  Schools  for 
each  county,  three  Trustees  for  every  township, 
and  two  Inspectors  for  each  school.  The  Super- 
intendent to  be  chosen  by  the  legislature  for  the 
term  of  three  or  five  years,  and  to  receive  a  liberal 
salary,  both  for  the  purpose  of  giving  respectability 
to  the  office,  and  of  securing  in  it  the  services  of 
men  of  talent  and  character.  A  term  of  years  is 
proposed,  to  guard  against  the  consequences  that 
might  result  from  the  fluctuations  of  political  par- 
ties. Education  has  nothing  to  do  directly  with 
politics,  and  important  offices  connected  with  it 
ought  not  to  be  made  dependent  on  the  breath  of 
political  favour  or  enmity. 

The  School  Inspectors  to  be  chosen  by  ballot 
in  each  district,  the  Trustees  for  townships  to  be 
elected  as  the  other  township  officers  are,  and  the 
Commissioner  for  each  county  to  be  chosen  by 
ballot  by  all  the  Trustees  in  the  county,  assembled 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          229 

School  Inspectors.    Township  Trustees.    County  Commissioners. 

for  that  purpose,  and  always  selecting  one  of  their 
own  number.  All  these  officers  to  be  paid  so 
much  per  day  for  their  time  while  actually  en- 
gaged in  the  public  service. 

It  should  be  made  the  duty  of  the  Inspectors, 
from  the  performance  of  which  nothing  should 
ever  be  permitted  to  deter  them,  to  visit  and  ex- 
amine thoroughly  the  schools  in  their  respective 
districts,  at  least  once  a  month,  and  receive  from 
the  master  the  monthly  report  of  attendance,  be- 
haviour, and  progress  of  the  pupils.  In  like  man- 
ner it  should  be  made  the  duty  of  the  Trustees  to 
visit  and  examine  all  the  schools  in  their  respective 
townships  at  least  once  a  quarter,  and  to  meet  as 
often  as  that  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  reports 
from  the  School  Inspectors.  The  Trustees  in  their 
turn  to  report  to  the  County  Commissioners. 

The  County  Commissioners  to  constitute  a  Board 
of  Education,  to  convene  semi-annually,  of  which 
the  Superintendent  should  be,  ex  cfficio,  President. 
Each  Commissioner  to  present  at  these  meetings 
a  report  for  his  own  county,  to  be  passed  into  the 
hands  of  the  Superintendent.  It  should  be  made 
the  duty  of  this  Board  to  examine  candidates 
for  the  situation  of  teachers,  and  to  consult  on 
the  general  interests  of  education  throughout  the 
state. 

The  duties  of  the  Superintendent  of  Public  In- 
20 


S30    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Superintendent.    Punctual  Attendance  of  Pupils.    Fidelity  of  Teachers. 

struction  would  be  multifarious  and  responsible,  the 
least  of  which  would  be  his  annual  reports  to  the 
body  by  whom  he  was  elected.  He  would  be  re- 
quired to  take  a  general  oversight  of  all  the 
schools,  to  visit  once  a  year  every  county  in  the 
state,  to  be  instant,  in  season  and  out  of  season,  in 
his  efforts  to  keep  alive  and  increase  the  interest 
of  the  people,  and  to  labour  unremittingly  to  dis- 
seminate information  and  to  infuse  a  spirit  of  ac- 
tivity into  the  whole  system.  In  short,  he  must 
be  the  heart  of  the  system,  whence  a  genial  cur- 
rent of  life  and  vigour  shall  flow  to  the  most  dis- 
tant members. 

To  insure  the  punctual  and  regular  attendance 
of  the  pupils,  the  principles  both  of  hope  and  of 
fear  might  perhaps  be  appealed  to  with  propriety. 
Some  slight  bounty  might  be  offered  to  the  child 
who  should  not  miss  a  day  from  school  throughout 
the  year,  except  from  sickness;  and  the  parent 
might  forfeit  his  title  to  any  benefit  from  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  public  money,  by  keeping  his  child 
at  home  beyond  a  specified  proportion  of  the  whole 
time. 

For  the  encouragement  of  teachers,  and  to  in- 
sure their  fidelity  and  continued  self-improvement, 
biennial  or  triennial  examinations  might  be  held, 
and  some  distinctions  conferred  upon  those  who 
are  most  deserving. 

I  am  prepared  to  have  some  of  these  sugges- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          231 

This  Plan  may  not  be  the  best.    An  efficient  Organization  practicable. 

tions  received  and  treated  as  visionary,  and  others 
rejected  as  impracticable.  If  they  are  all  dis- 
carded, and  something  better  proposed  in  their 
stead,  I  pledge  myself  that  I  will  abandon  them 
without  regret,  and  be  among  the  first  to  hail  the 
substitute  with  rejoicing.  The  organization  pro- 
posed would  necessarily  require  some  modifica- 
tions, if  adopted  in  its  general  principles  in  a  large 
state;  and  the  establishment  and  successful  opera- 
tion of  teachers'  seminaries  would  also  make  some 
changes  necessary. 

These  views  are  submitted,  not  dogmatically, 
but  with  unfeigned  diffidence.  Where  there  is 
so  rnucji  room  for  difference  of  opinion,  there  is 
greater  latitude  of  error,  and  the  probabilities  in 
favour  of  the  correctness  of  any  given  opinions  are 
diminished.  The  proper  adjustment  and  balancing 
of  all  the  parts  of  a  general  system  of  popular  edu- 
cation, so  as  to  secure  complete  efficiency,  is  a 
work  requiring  deep  wisdom  ;  yet  experience  has 
shown  that  it  is  altogether  within  the  range  of  pos- 
sibilities. Let  the  attempt  but  be  made  in  earnest 
by  any  state,  and  proseputed  with  ardour,  and  it 
requires  not  the  word  of  a  prophet  to  foretell  that  it 
will  be  completely  successful,  and  that  its  success 
will  be  attended  with  consequences  good  in  them- 
selves, and  most  benign  in  their  influence. 

Is  there  any  probability  that  such  a  system  of 


232    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Will  such  a  System  be  adopted  ?    First  Obstacle  the  People's  Indifference 

popular  education  as  I  have  attempted  to  trace  out 
in  the  foregoing  pages,  or  any  thing  approaching 
to  it,  will  ever  be  adopted  by  the  several  states  of 
our  confederacy  ?  It  must  be  confessed  that  the 
prospect  is  not  of  the  most  cheering  kind ;  and  yet 
there  are  encouragements  enough  to  keep  out  de- 
spair, and  even  to  authorize  the  hope  that  the  day 
will  come,  when  this  consummation  shall  be  real- 
ized. The  vast  importance  of  a  comprehensive 
education  of  the  people,  and  the  indispensable  ne- 
cessity of  improved  methods  of  instruction,  are 
generally  admitted.  Why,  then,  are  not  schools 
universally  established  upon  a  proper  basis,  and 
maintained  with  a  liberality  commensurate  with 
their  acknowledged  importance  ?  To  consider  the 
obstacles  in  the  way  of  so  desirable  a  result,  and 
the  encouragements  to  hope  that  it  may  ultimately 
be  secured,  will  be  the  object  of  the  concluding 
portion  of  this  work. 

1.  The  difficulty  that  first  rises  to  the  thoughts  in 
considering  this  subject,  and  the  one  perhaps  of 
most  formidable  import,  though  negative  in  its 
character,  is  the  indifference  of  the  people  in  rela- 
tion to  it.  This  indifference  is  deep-seated,  and 
exists  to  an  almost  incredible  extent. 

Where  is  the  state  within  the  limits  of  this  na- 
tion, whose  citizens  are  sufficiently  alive  to  the 
value  of  education,  to  demand  of  their  law-makers  a 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.          233 

Various  Proofs  of  this  Indifference.    Voluntary  Associations  languish. 

system  adequate  to  their  wants  ?  Not  one  such 
can  be  named.  Even  in  Massachusetts,  the  best 
educated  state  in  the  union,  the  sum  annually  ex- 
pended on  common  schools  is,  as  you  have  seen, 
only  a  little  more  than  one-fourth  of  what  has  been 
shown  to  be  indispensable  to  the  support  of  such 
schools  as  we  need.  In  Pennsylvania,  where  a 
system  of  common  schools,  devised  with  wisdom, 
and  highly  beneficial  in  its  results,  has  been  for 
several  years  in  operation,  more  than  one-fourth 
of  the  people  still  refuse  to  accede  to  it.  In  the 
legislature  of  New  Jersey,  at  its  last  session,  only 
some  half  dozen  votes  could  be  obtained  in  favour 
of  a  proposition  to  improve  our  common  schools. 

What  is  the  usual  history  of  those  voluntary  so- 
cieties which  are  from  time  to  time  formed  for  the 
promotion  of  popular  education  1  They  are  got 
up  with  considerable  spirit ;  they  give  promise  of 
salutary  fruits;  they  languish  for  a  few  years 
through  a  sickly  and  ever-waning  existence ;  and 
then  sink  beneath  the  waves  of  oblivion,  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  others  destined  to  a  like  fate.  The  Ame- 
rican Lyceum  might  be  made  a  mighty  instru- 
ment of  good  to  this  cause ;  yet  it  is  compara- 
tively inefficient  for  want  of  that  support  which  a 
moderate  share  of  general  interest  in  education 
could  not  fail  to  give  it. 

Do  periodicals  on  education  meet  with  any  bet- 
20* 


234    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Failure  of  Periodicals  on  Education.    Indifference  its  Cause. 

ter  fate?  Their  career  is  still  more  brief  and  in- 
glorious. Within  the  short  space  of  seven  years, 
no  less  than  seven  works  of  this  kind  have  been 
started,  which  have  scarcely  survived  their  birth  ; 
while  the  eighth,  the  Annals  of  Education,  has,  till 
within  a  year  or  two  past,  struggled  on  through  a 
feeble  and  uncertain  existence.  The  Common 
School  Assistant,  a  monthly  newspaper,  edited  by 
Mr.  J.  Orville  Taylor,  has  been  published  for  about 
two  years,  and  is  said  to  have  an  extensive  circu- 
lation. Beyond  these  two,  I  know  of  none  pub- 
lished at  the  present  time  in  any  part  of  the  coun- 
try. Is  this  the  way  in  which  the  people  of  the 
United  States  display  their  interest  in  a  given 
subject?  No,  indeed.  Political  papers  are  circu- 
lated by  thousands ;  religious  periodicals  by  hun- 
dreds; law,  medical,  and  literary  journals,  tem- 
perance, agricultural,  and  abolition  papers,  each 
by  fifties  or  by  dozens.  Periodicals  devoted  to 
education  alone,  of  all  others,  perish  and  are  for- 
gotten after  a  few  months'  struggle  for  life,  and 
the  loss  of  some  hundreds  of  dollars  out  of  the 
pockets  of  their  conductors. 

But  why  multiply  proofs  of  the  prevalent  indif- 
ference to  education?  Alas !  their  name  is  legion. 
He  that  runs  may  read  them.  Even  the  interest 
of  those  who  affect  to  deplore  the  want  of  it  in 
others  is  often  limited  to  an  occasional  sigh,  a  few 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    335 

How  tan  thia  Indifference  be  removed  ?    Tendencies  opposed  to  it. 

newspaper  articles,  or  an  address  now  and  then  at 
a  popular  meeting.  This  indifference  is  the  main 
obstacle  that  lies  in  the  way  of  an  efficient  reform. 
But  the  problem  is  how  to  remove  it.  Archbishop 
Whately,  in  his  Lectures  on  Political  Economy, 
argues  that  a  barbarous  nation  has  no  tendency 
to  civilize  itself.  Reasoning  upon  the  same  prin- 
ciple, the  London  Quarterly  Review  endeavours 
to  show  that  an  uneducated  society  has  no  natural 
tendency  to  educate  itself;  that  the  impulse  must 
come  from  above ;  from  those  who  have  created 
the  want  that  the  others  do  not  feel.  It  says  truly 
that  it  is  impossible  for  persons  of  uncultivated  and 
torpid  minds  to  know  to  what  an  extent  education 
exalts,  enlarges,  and  stimulates  the  understanding; 
how  much  it  raises,  refines,  and  strengthens  the 
moral  feelings;  nor  how  incalculably  it  increases 
the  happiness  of  its  possessor,  and  tends  to  make 
him  both  independent  of  the  world,  and  a  safe  and 
useful  member  of  society.  Hence  such  persons 
will  never  seek  it  self-moved.  They  must  be  acted 
upon  from  without, — by  those  who  are  impressed 
with  a  sense  of  its  manifold  advantages ;  who  see 
in  it  the  only  means  of  promoting  genuine  civiliza- 
tion ;  of  instilling  correct  principles  and  salutary 
habits ;  of  implanting  a  love  of  industry,  temper- 
ance, and  regularity ;  and  of  stifling  whatever  is 
repugnant  to  law,  order,  and  morality. 


236          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Expense  of  the  System  an  Obstacle.  Money  could  not  be  better  appropriated. 

2.  The  greatness  of  the  admitted  and  even  avow- 
ed expense  of  an  efficient  national  education  is  an 
obstacle  of  no  small  magnitude  in  the  way  of  its 
accomplishment  There  is  nothing  of  which  our 
legislators  generally  are  so  much  afraid  as  of 
voting  away  money  even  in  small  sums,  and  for 
the  best  and  wisest  purposes ;  much  less  will  they 
be  willing,  till  instructed  in  a  voice  of  authority  by 
the  people  themselves,  to  appropriate  it  by  millions 
for  the  maintenance  of  schools.  How  can  the 
people  be  influenced  to  move  in  this  matter  effect- 
ually 1  Nothing  will  do  it  but  the  most  vigorous 
and  persevering  efforts  on  the  part  of  those  whose 
views  are  in  advance  of  the  times,  to  disseminate 
light,  to  rectify  error,  and  to  open  the  eyes  of  the 
community  to  the  perils  of  ignorance  and  the 
blessings  of  knowledge. 

It  would  be  a  noble  and  even  a  sublime  specta- 
cle to  see  a  great  nation,  that  has  already  set  an 
example  to  the  world  of  rational  liberty  and  so- 
ber self-government,  following  up  what  she  has 
achieved  by  that  which  would  confirm  it  to  the 
latest  posterity, — by  a  charter  of  perpetuity,  in  the 
endowment  of  popular  schools,  on  a  scale  worthy 
of  herself,  and  corresponding  with  their  intrinsic 
importance.  And  to  what  better,  wiser,  or  more 
useful  purpose  could  the  resources  indicated  in  the 
fourth  chapter  of  these  Hints  be  devoted  1  Will 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    237 

No  Price  too  great  for  Education.    We  must  persevere  in  the  Work. 

it  be  said  that  the  expenditure  is  enormous?     No 
price  is  great  which  is  not  disproportionate  to  the 
value  of  the  article  purchased.     And  if  we  take 
this  principle  as  our  guide,  we  must  admit  that  four 
times  the  sum  asked  would  be  well  expended,  if  so 
much  were  necessary,  to  secure  the  end  in  view. 
Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  the  nation  may  be 
brought  to  the  point  of  incurring  the  needed  ex- 
pense?    To  expect  such  a  result  immediately, 
would  argue  either  the  blindness  of  ignorance,  or 
the  weakness  of  the  enthusiast.     But  the  friends 
of  education  must  be  content  to  labour  for  a  re- 
mote good.     They  must  fix  their  aims  high,  and 
proclaim  them  to  the  world ;  and  then  buckle  on 
the  armour  of  firm  resolve  and  determined  perse- 
verance.   Let  them  plant  themselves  upon  the  im- 
pregnable and  lofty  principle,  that  truth  is  great  and 
will  prevail.  Let  there  be  no  concealment,  no  dis- 
guise, no  deceptive  and  honied  insinuation.  "  The 
movements  and  workings  of  the  social  system  have 
become  too  deep  and  potent,  to  leave  room  for  ope- 
rations of  a  slender,  ambiguous,  or  insinuating  kind. 
We  have  come  to  no  gentle  mood  of  the  world's 
history.  This  is  no  hour  of  leisure  and  facility  and 
soft  persuasion.     He  who  dares  not  speak  expli- 
citly and   boldly,  had    better   not   speak   at   all. 
Nothing  will  now  avail  the  cause  of  truth  but  the 
courage  which  truth  ought  to  inspire."    If  the 


238         HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Our  Social  System  in  some  respects  adverse  in  its  Influence. 

necessary  boldness  be  coupled  with  due  discre- 
tion, and  sustained  by  a  spirit  that  shrinks  not, 
wavers  not,  and  is  not  discouraged  either  by  de- 
lays or  opposition,  it  is  neither  blind,  nor  weak, 
nor  visionary,  to  indulge  the  hope  that  such  ex- 
ertions in  behalf  of  our  cause  will  in  the  end 
prevail. 

3.  There  are  points  in  our  social  system,  and 
some  traits  in  our  national  character,  which  stand 
in  the  way  of  the  gigantic  scheme  we  are  advo- 
cating. The  paths  of  ambition  are  here  open  to 
all.  The  obscure  of  to-day  may  be  the  illustrious 
of  to-morrow ;  and  a  single  false  step  in  politics 
often  leads  over  a  precipice,  at  whose  base  present 
realizations  and  reasonable  hopes  may  be  seen 
in  scattered  and  irrecoverable  fragments.  This 
makes  the  ambitious  aspirant  for  public  favour 
timid,  shrinking,  and  over-cautious  as  to  every  one 
of  his  public  acts.  It  makes  those  who,  by  their 
talents,  learning,  and  commanding  position,  are 
capable  of  controlling  public  opinion,  the  mere 
echoes,  nay,  almost  the  slaves,  of  that  very  opinion, 
which  they  ought  rather  to  enlighten  and  rectify. 
This,  it  will  be  seen  at  once,  is  an  adverse  in- 
fluence of  tremendous  power,  especially  if  it  be 
admitted  that  there  is  no  inherent  tendency  in  an 
uneducated  community  to  educate  itself,  and  that 
the  first  impulse  to  that  end  must  come  from 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     239 

Several  Traits  in  our  national  Character  opposed  to  Reform. 

abroad,  that  is,  for  the  most  part,  from  those  very 
persons,  who  are  afraid  to  touch  the  ark  from  a 
morbid  dread  of  the  loss  of  popularity. 

The  lust  of  wealth,  the  frenzy  of  enterprise, 
and  the  leaven  of  agitation  which  has  diffused  it- 
self through  almost  the  whole  mass  of  society,  are 
points  each  in  our  national  character  whose  in- 
fluence, as  far  as  it  goes,  is  opposed  to  a  thorough 
reform  of  otir  existing  systems  of  popular  instruc- 
tion. It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  any  lengthened 
analysis  of  these  causes,  and  to  show  that  their 
effect  is  essentially  such  as  it  is  here  stated  to  be; 
their  operation  lies  upon  the  surface,  and  may  be 
known  and  read  of  all  men.  When  the  sacra  auri 
fames — the  accursed  hunger  of  gold — has  become, 
in  the  majority  of  minds,  a  craving  that  knows  no 
intermission;    when    steamboats,   railroads,   and 
canals,  the  purchase  and  sale  of  lands,  the  eager 
pursuits  of  commerce  and  manufactures,  and  the 
thousand  other  modes  of  rapid  accumulation  which 
the  ingenuity  of  avarice  has  devised,  form  the 
themes  that  occupy  men's  thoughts  by  night  and 
by  day ;  and  when  society  is  agitated  almost  to  its 
foundations  by  innumerable  exciting  causes, — it  is 
easy  to  perceive  that  it  is  not  the  most  favourable 
time  for  those  calm  investigations  and  steady  ex- 
ertions which  are  essential  to  the  solid  improve- 
ments in  education  for  which  we  are  contending. 


240    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION 

• 

Difference  in  religious  Opinion  another  Obstacle. 

4.  The  multiplication  and  intermingling  of  reli- 
gious sects  in  this  country  constitute  another  and 
not  inconsiderable  hindrance  to  the  realization  of 
our  wishes  on  this  subject.     It  has  already  been 
shown  that  popular  education,  in  order  to  be  of 
any  substantial  value,  must  teach  the  evidences  on 
which  the  religion  of  the  Bible  rests  its  claim  to  be 
considered  a  communication  from  Heaven ;  that 
it  must  communicate  what  is  capital  in  its  doc- 
trines, as  well  as  the  main  facts  of  its  history;  and 
that  it  must  instil  into  its  pupils  the  principles  and 
habits  of  practical  godliness.     It  is  admitted  that 
to  harmonize  the  elements  of  discord  so  as  effec- 
tually to  secure  this  indispensable  condition  with- 
out calling  into  activity  sectarian  prejudices  and 
jealousies,  is  a  labour  of  deep  practical  wisdom. 
But  that  it  is  a  work  altogether  impracticable,  can 
hardly  be  supposed;  since  it  is  apparently  essential 
to  the  carrying  forward  of  the  great  designs  of 
Providence,  and  the  introduction  of  that  glorious 
period,  the  brightest  in  the  world's  history,  the 
theme  of  the  most  impassioned  strains  of  prophecy 
and  poetry,  when  the  universal  diffusion  of  KNOW- 
LEDGE AND  HOLINESS  shall  restore  to  the  moral 
world  the  lost  image  of  its  Maker,  and  bring  back, 
not  merely  the  remembrance,  but  the  enjoyment, 
of  the  peace  and  beauty  of  Eden. 
5.  The  last  in  that  ill-omened  train  of  impedi- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    241 

Remoteness  of  the  Benefits  to  be  gained  a  great  Impediment. 

merits  to  which  reference  will  now  be  made  is  found 
in  the  remoteness  and  the  impalpable  nature  of  the 
benefits  to  be  gained  by  the  adoption  of  the  course 
recommended.  Mr.  Simpson,  in  his  work  on  the 
Necessity  of  Popular  Education,  has  placed  the 
fallacy  and  the  selfishness  of  this  plea  in  so  strong 
a  light,  that  I  must  crave  indulgence  for  asking 
your  attention  to  a  somewhat  lengthened  extract. 
"  If  it  were  true,  as  it  is  not,  that  we  of  the  pre- 
sent generation  shall  derive  no  benefit  from  the 
progress,  nay,  even  from  the  commencement  of 
this  moral  revolution,  we  should  be  bound,  never- 
theless, to  effect  it,  when  in  the  nature  of  things  it 
can  only  be  accomplished  by  one  generation,  to 
be  fully  enjoyed  by  another.  It  is  a  low  morality 
which  would  recklessly  throw  our  burdens  upon 
our  successors,  to  work  out  their  deliverance  from 
these  as  they  may,  but  refuse  the  slightest  sacri- 
fice for  their  benefit.  A  succeeding  generation 
owes  its  existence  to  the  present,  and  has  a  claim, 
in  justice  as  well  as  benevolence,  to  inherit  all  our 
accumulations  of  wealth  and  knowledge,  and  a 
right  to  reproach  us  with  a  great  sin  in  the  Crea- 
tor's sight,  if  we  have  selfishly  shrunk  from  the 
duty  which  he  has  inscribed  on  his  great  plan,  that 
one  generation  shall  often  sow  the  seed,  that  ano- 
ther may  gather  the  harvest.  This  duty  extends 
from  the  planting  of  a  tree,  to  the  enlightening  of 
21 


242    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Our  Obligations  to  Posterity.    Self-esteem  a  Motive  to  Exertion. 

« 

a  people.  To  decline  our  share  in  the  means  of 
the  progression  of  the  human  race,  when  we  have 
arrived  at  light  enough  to  show  us  the  way,  would 
be  a  moral  prostration  which  would  stigmatise  an 
age. 

"  A  legitimate  self-esteem  is  well  entitled  here  to 
supply  its  share  of  motive,  and  make  us  proud  that, 
in  the  course  of  Providence,  it  has  fallen  to  our 
times  to  do  this  great  thing ;  to  preside  over  the 
culture,  assured  that  our  children,  and  our  chil- 
dren's children  will  gather  the  increase.  Yes, 
there  are  minds  of  glorious  loftiness, — minds  that 
would  do  a  deed  to  bless  mankind,  and  be  content 
to  die.  Lavoisier  waited  the  moment  when  a  great 
truth  should  be  revealed  in  the  results  of  a  scienti- 
fic process,  in  which  he  was  intensely  engaged, 
when  they  came  to  lead  him  to  the  scaffold.  He 
entreated  to  have  three  days  granted  him  to  crown 
the  great  work  of  the  new  chemistry.  Robespierre 
refused  an  hour,  and,  like  the  caitiff  who  struck 
down  Archimedes,  murdered  Lavoisier.  Heroism 
like  this  is  not  now  before  us ;  but  I  trust  there  are 
many  of  my  countrymen,  who,  if  it  were  pro- 
pounded to  them,  whether  their  satisfaction  would 
be  the  greater  to  aid  in  effecting  the  glorious 
scheme  of  education,  or  to  live  in  another  genera- 
tion, and  passively  taste  its  fruits,  would  choose  the 
glory  of  the  enterprise,  rather  than  the  sweets  of 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    343 

Consideration  of  Encouragements.    Popular  Indifference  yielding. 

the  result ;  and  would  avow  that  there  is  an  expan- 
sion of  feeling,  a  dilation  of  heart,  a  lofty  ambition 
even,  in  being  permitted  to  be  the  actors  in  a  work 
to  have  such  consequences  in  another  generation, 
which  gives  them  to  live,  as  it  were,  in  both  pe- 
riods, to  enjoy  alike  the  springtide  and  the  autumn, 
and,  like  Abraham,  to  see  the  day  afar  off  and  be 
glad." 

But  amid  all  that  is  gloomy  in  our  prospects, 
and  disheartening  in  the  obstacles  that  oppose 
themselves  to  reform,  there  are  not  wanting 
sources  of  consolation  and  hope.  Nay,  the  en- 
couragements, when  calmly  weighed,  will  be 
found  to  preponderate  over  considerations  of  an 
opposite  kind.  These  encouragements  I  shall  ra- 
ther advert  to  than  discuss ;  leaving  it  to  you,  and 
to  others  who  may  honour  my  work  with  a  peru- 
sal, to  follow  out  the  topics  suggested  with  such 
reflections  as  will  naturally  arise.' 

1.  The  indifference  alluded  to  as  among  the 
most  formidable  obstacles  to  improved  systems  of 
popular  education,  is  already  giving  way  to'  a 
lively,  and  active,  and  general  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject. Great  inroads  have  been  made  upon  it  with- 
in the  last  few  years ;  it  has  been  gradually,  but 
surely  melting  away  before  the  efforts  to  remove 
it,  like  icebergs  beneath  the  influence  of  southern 
skies ;  and  the  impulse  has  been  already  given, 


244     HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Proofs  of  this.    Education  a  frequent  Topic  of  Conversation. 

which,  if  no  untoward  events  occur  to  impede 
the  movement,  will  certainly  end  in  its  entire  de- 
molition, and  the  substitution  in  its  place  of  en- 
lightened zeal  and  active  exertions  in  the  great 
body  of  the  people.  We  have  had  abundant  proof 
of  this  in  our  own  state,  within  the  few  weeks  last 
past,  in  the  numerous  and  spirited  meetings  held 
in  all  parts  of  our  commonwealth  for  the  purpose 
of  petitioning  the  legislature  for  improvements  in 
our  common  school  system.  The  importance  of 
a  thorough  education  of  all  classes  in  the  commu- 
nity, and  the  necessity  of  reforming  and  extending 
our  operations  for  that  end,  are  becoming  frequent 
topics  of  conversation  in  those  circles  and  among 
those  individuals,  where  we  look  for  the  first  move- 
ments in  any  meditated  amelioration  of  the  social 
system.  Nor  are  these  topics  confined  to  the  con- 
versation of  the  classes  here  alluded  to ;  they  have 
spread  far  beyond  them.  Multitudes  of  the  labour- 
ing classes  feel  and  proclaim  the  necessity  of  a 
better  education  for  their  children.  Would  that 
they  would  rise  in  their  might,  and  demand  it  of 
their  rulers.  On  the  whole,  it  must  be  confessed 
and  deplored,  that  "there  remains  much  land  to 
be  possessed ;"  but  Jordan  has  been  passed,  the 
walls  of  Jericho  are  prostrate,  and  we  are  already 
advancing  into  the  heart  of  the  enemy's  country. 
Let  our  watchword  be  ONWARD  ;  let  our  course 
be  marked  by  prudence ;  let  our  vigilance  and  our 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    345 

What  has  been  already  accomplished  a  Source  of  Hope. 

labour  be  unremitted;  and  triumph  will  certainly 
perch  upon  our  banner;  and  our  children  and  chil- 
dren's children  shall  reap  the  harvest  we  have 
sown. 

2.  Much  has  been  already  accomplished  in  va- 
rious sections  of  the  country.  To  enter  into  par- 
ticulars in  illustration  of  this  point  would  require 
more  space  than  can  be  devoted  to  that  purpose, 
though  the  illustration  could  not  fail  to  be  both  in- 
teresting and  instructive.  I  can  only  refer,  there- 
fore, in  general  terms,  to  what  has  been  achieved 
in  New  England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
Michigan,  and  several  other  western  states.  Go- 
vernors Marcy,  Wolf,  Ritner,  Vance,  Mason, 
and  others,  have  imposed  a  heavy  debt  of  grati- 
tude upon  their  fellow-citizens,  by  their  zeal  in  re- 
commending, and  their  active  exertions  in  urging 
forward,  the  improvements  in  their  respective 
states ;  and  they  have  in  this  way  gained  more 
true  glory,  and  done  more  lasting  service  to  their 
country,  than  by  a  long  career  of  military  triumphs. 
Long  may  such  men  live  to  infuse  their  own  spirit 
into  souls  of  heavier  mould,  and  to  roll  along  the 
wheels  on  which  are  borne  the  political  safety,  the 
moral  elevation,  and  the  true  happiness,  of  the  hu- 
man race! 

There  are  some  organizations  narrower  in  their 
operations  than  the  entire  territory  of  a  state, 
21  * 


246          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Formation  of  numerous  Lyceums  affords  a  twofold  Encouragement. 

which  deserve  to  be  mentioned  as  among  the  en- 
couraging signs  of  the  times.  Prominent  among 
these  are  the  school  systems  of  the  cities  of  Boston, 
New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  They  have  already 
been  the  source  of  uncounted  blessings  to  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  human  beings;  they  are  now  es- 
tablished upon  a  firm  basis,  perfected  by  the  experi- 
ence of  many  years,  and  conducted  with  enlight- 
ened zeal  and  liberality ;  and  may  justly  be 
regarded  as  among  the  "  proudest  monuments  any 
people  ever  raised  to  the  cause  of  learning,  truth 
and  virtue." 

3.  The  'formation  and  flourishing  condition  of 
numerous  lyceums  afford  to  the  friends  of  educa- 
tion encouragement  of  a  twofold  character ;  they 
are  indices  of  what  has  already  been  done — of  the 
extent  to  which  an  interest  in  the  subject  now  pre- 
vails ;  and  they  are  pledges  of  good  things  to  come. 
They  are  both  the  effect  and  the  cause  of  an  in- 
crease of  zeal  and  activity  in  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion— reform. 

4.  The  example  of  other  countries,  the  progress 
they  have  made  in  establishing  and  perfecting 
sound  systems  of  primary  education,  are  well  fitted 
to  cheer  us  on  in  the  work.  "  What  has  been  done 
can  be  done,"  is  a  maxim  which  has  grown  old, 
because  it  is  true.     It  seems  to  have  been  in  most 
things  silently  acted  upon  by  the  United  States,  as 
a  nation.     It  is  rare  that  they  allow  themselves  to 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.     247 

The  Example  and  Achievements  of  other  Nations  encouraging. 

be  outstripped  by  other  countries  in  any  thing,  es- 
pecially if  it  be  a  project  having  somewhat  of  tan- 
gible uti.lity  in  it.  It  were  well  if  this  emulation, 
which  seems  natural  to  us  as  a  people,  could  be 
extended  to  education.  There  is  much  in  those 
systems  of  public  instruction  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  to  which  reference  has  been  repeatedly 
made,  in  the  progress  of  this  work,  which  might 
be  advantageously  copied  by  us.  "  Germany  is 
our  teacher,  not  merely  in  the  matured  national 
plan  of  Prussia  so  often  referred  to,  but  very  gene- 
rally over  the  empire."  France,  too,  is  in  some 
respects  our  teacher ;  certainly  in  the  zeal  with 
which  she  entered  upon  the  labour  of  reform  in 
the  establishment  of  a  national  system,  in  the  spi- 
rit with  which  she  prosecutes  the  work,  and  the 
liberality  with  which  she  expends  for  the  support 
and  perfection  of  her  popular  schools. 

5.  It  is  an  encouraging  circumstance  that  po- 
pular education  is  not  made  a  political  question 
among  us.  It  is  a  defect  in  our  social  system,  a 
result  which  seems  inseparable  from  a  national 
organization  such  as  ours,  that  almost  every  prac- 
tical question  of  importance,  whether  or  not  it  has 
any  inherent  political  bearing,  mixes  itself  up  with 
politics,  and  the  success  or  failure  of  propositions 
growing  out  of  it  is  made  to  hinge  on  political 
considerations.  This  appears  to  be  the  price  of 


248    HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Education  not  a  political  Question.    Great  encouragement  in  tbis. 

liberty,  the  penalty  of  self-government.  How  far 
the  proper  education  of  every  individual  in  the 
community  would  go  towards  diminishing  this 
price  and  removing  the  penalty,  our  children  will 
perhaps  be  better  able  to  judge  than  ourselves. 
At  all  events,  it  is  fortunate  that  education  is  one 
of  those  few  questions  on  which  men  of  all  parties 
can  and  do  meet,  and  combine  their  efforts.  This 
fact  is  a  legitimate  subject  of  congratulation,  and 
is  not  the  weakest  of  those  grounds  of  encourage- 
ment and  hope,  which  should  inspire  the  breast 
with  courage,  and  nerve  the  arm  to  vigorous 
action.  In  this  particular  we  have  the  advantage 
of  those  who  are  battling  in  the  same  cause  in 
Great  Britajn.  The  whole  power  of  the  ultra 
Tory  party  is  there  armed  against  all  change,  in 
education  as  in  every  thing  else. 

6.  The  last  in  our  list  of  encouragements, 
though  not  the  least  in  influence  and  importance, 
is  that  the  Press  UNIVERSALLY  is  in  our  favour !  If 
there  are  any  exceptions  to  this  remark,  they  are 
not  known  to  me,  and  are  at  any  rate  too  few  in 
number  to  be  of  any  account.  This  is  alike  .true 
of  the  daily,  weekly,  monthly,  and  quarterly  jour- 
nals, in  every  part  of  our  land.  With  one  voice 
they  have  proclaimed  and  reiterated  the  solemn 
truth  that — "  IF  WE  FAIL  BY  EDUCATION  TO  AWAKE, 

GUIDE,  CONFIRM    THE  MORAL  ENERGIES   OF  OUR    PEO- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    349 

The  Press  in  Favour  of  Education.    Appeal  to  its  Conductors. 

PLE,  WE  ARE  LOST  !"  May  this  sentiment,  so  true 
in  fact,  so  fearful  in  import,  be  echoed  back  by  our 
whole  people!  May  it  be  emblazoned  on  our  ban- 
ners, inscribed  on  our  halls  of  legislation,  pro- 
claimed from  the  pulpit  and  the  rostrum,  imbibed 
by  our  children  with  the  milk  that  nourishes  their 
infancy,  and  written  indelibly  upon  the  tablet  of 
our  heart. 

To  the  conductors  of  the  Press  may  I,  without 
presumption,  be  permitted  to  say — Persevere  in 
your  advocacy  of  this  noble  cause,  and  redouble 
your  efforts  in  it.  You  hold  in  your  hands  an  in- 
strument of  tremendous  power.  Wield  it  with 
caution;  wield  it  with  boldness;  but  above  all, 
wield  it  for  the  blessing  of  your  race.  And  in  re- 
ference to  the  education  of  the  people — that  para- 
mount interest  of  a  free  state — let  the  voice  of 
warning,  of  remonstrance,  and  of  exhortation, 
never  cease  to  be  heard.  Cry  aloud,  and  spare 
not — till  our  desolate  and  waste  places  shall  be- 
come like  Eden,  and  the  desert  shall  rejoice  and 
blossom  as  the  rose. 

And  now,  gentlemen,  these  hasty  and  imperfect 
Hints  are  drawing  towards  a  close.  I  have  gone 
over  the  whole  ground  which  I  proposed  to  my- 
self to  occupy  at  the  outset  of  my  undertaking.  I 
have  treated  of  a  subject  which  yields  to  no  other 
in  importance,  in  whichever  of  its  relations  you 


250          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Recapitulation  of  Topics  discussed  in  the  Work. 

choose  to  consider  it ;  would  that  I  had  possessed 
the  talent  to  present  its  claims  in  a  style  and  with 
an  earnestness  commensurate  with  that  import- 
ance. I  have  brought  to  my  task  honesty  of  pur- 
pose, an  ardent  love  for  the  cause  I  have  endea- 
voured to  advocate,  the  deepest  convictions  of  its 
inseparable  connexion  with  the  best  interests  of 
man,  and  that  measure  of  ability  with  which  it  has 
pleased  Him  who  gives  and  withholds  in  wisdom, 
to  endow  me.  Let  us  now  pause,  and  briefly  sur- 
vey the  ground  over  which  we  have  travelled.  If 
I  have  not  missed  my  aim,  the  following  positions, 
among  cithers,  have  been  established : — 

Education  is  necessary  for  all  classes,  and  for 
each  individual  in  the  community,  especially  in  a 
government  founded  upon  the  popular  will ;  and  it 
is  the  duty  of  such  a  government  to  take  care  that 
this  great  end  be  secured. 

The  education  established  for  the  people,  to  be 
suitable,  must  be  real,  not  verbal ;  it  must  teach 
things  primarily,  words  incidentally ;  it  must  culti- 
vate the  faculties  of  observation  and  comparison, 
and  communicate  the  art  of.  reflection ;  it  must 
educate  the  senses  and  the  physical  powers,  and 
convey  to  the  pupils  a  knowledge  of  the  dignity 
of  their  nature,  of  their  relations  to  other  beings, 
of  their  rights  and  duties  as  men  and  citizens,  of 
the  progress  of  human  affairs  in  different  ages  and 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.         251 

Recapitulation  continued. 

countries,  and  of  the  manifold  and  wonderful 
works  of  the  Creator  by  which  they  are  surround- 
ed ;  in  short,  it  must  make  them  moral,  reflective, 
independent  in  judgment  and  action,  industrious, 
and  religious.  These  high  objects  are  not  secured, 
as  a  general  thing,  by  our  present  systems,  and 
therefore  a  reform  is  necessary. 

Good  schools  cannot  exist  without  good  teach- 
ers. We  have  at  present  but  few  teachers  pro- 
perly qualified,  and  cannot  have  without  provision 
for  their  special  training.  A  supply  of  competent 
instructers  can  be  obtained  only  through  the 
agency  of  teachers'  seminaries.  Institutions  of 
this  kind  are  indispensable,  and  ought  to  be  forth- 
with established.  Departments  for  the  training  of 
teachers  engrafted  on  colleges  and  academies, 
would  be  better  than  nothing,  but  original,  inde- 
pendent institutions  are  preferable. 

Teaching  should  be  made  a  permanent  business, 
and  elevated  to  its  proper  rank  among  the  other 
professions.  In  order  to  effect  this,  not  only  must 
the  qualifications  of  teachers  be  elevated  above 
their  present  standard,  but  their  compensation 
must  be  greatly  increased.  It  is  now  a  mere  pit- 
tance, not  amounting  in  fact  to  as  much  as  can 
be  realized  from  any  other  employment.  The 
country  is  able  to  pay  liberally  for  education ;  no- 
thing is  wanting  but  the  disposition. 


252          HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 

Recapitulation  Concluded. 

Notwithstanding  the  very  great  improvements 
that  have  been  made  of  late  years  in  school-books, 
other  works  of  a  higher  order  are  still  needed  on 
some  subjects ;  and  on  several  branches  of  know- 
ledge that  ought  to  be  introduced  as  studies  into 
our  common  schools,  we  have  as  yet  no  text-books 
at  all.  Knowledge  is  the  natural  food  of  the  mind, 
and  the  pursuit  of  it,  prosecuted  on  proper  princi- 
ples, is  always  a  source  of  pleasure.  Bad  books, 
and  worse  modes  of  instruction,  are  the  chief 
causes  of  the  general  aversion  of  the  young  to 
study.  Our  common  schools  ought  all  to  be  sup- 
plied with  small  but  well  selected  libraries,  with 
cabinets  of  natural  history  and  mineralogy,  and 
with  apparatus  for  illustrating  the  simpler  princi- 
ples of  science.  The  location  and  architecture  of 
school-houses  have  been  greatly  neglected,  but 
deserve  attention.  Such  an  organic  constitution 
should  be  given  to  a  system  of  general  education 
as  will  ensure  its  practical  efficiency. 

Finally,  various  and  formidable  obstacles  stand 
in  the  way  of  the  improvements  needed ;  but  these 
are  more  than  counterbalanced  by  facts  and  con- 
siderations of  an  encouraging  character,  which 
are  sufficient  to  inspire  the  friends  of  education 
with  courage  and  zeal,  and  to  incite  them  to  active 
exertion. 

If  these  positions  have  been  sustained,  or,  whe- 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.    353 

Our  Duty  to  Posterity  as  inferred  from  the  whole  Discussion. 

ther  they  have  or  not,  if  they  are  true,  they  im- 
pose upon  us  duties  of  high  import,  requiring  for 
their  due  performance,  rare  combinations  of  quali- 
ties, and  reaching  in  their  effects  through  all  coming 
time.  We  may  not  shrink  from  them,  without 
incurring  a  fearful  responsibility.  The  intelligent 
and  conscientious  discharge  of  these  duties,  is  a 
debt  which  we  owe  to  our  children  and  to  posteri- 
ty. It  is  shared  by  every  citizen,  but  it  rests  with 
augmented  claims  upon  those  who  are  chosen  to 
make  our  laws,  and  watch  over  our  public  inte- 
rests. Could  I  indulge  the  hope  that  any  appeal 
from  so  humble  an  individual  would  have  aught  of 
weight  with  the  statesmen  and  legislators  of  the 
land,  I  would  say  to  them — Consult  for  all  the  inte- 
rests of  your  constituents ;  let  none  be  overlooked, 
neglected,  or  forgotten  ;  but  let  the  education  of  the 
people  receive,  as  it  deserves,  your  earliest,  deep- 
est, and  most  unremitted  attention.  A  system  of 
popular  schools,  comprehensive  in  its  range  of 
studies,  thorough  in  its  modes  of  mental  discipline, 
and  pure  in  its  every  influence,  is  the  sheet-an- 
chor of  our  social  system.  It  is  the  bond  of 
our  union,  the  ward  and  keeper  of  our  consti- 
tution, the  charter  of  our  happiness,  our  safety, 
and  our  rights.  "  Other  measures  may  change, 
and  yield,  and  be  forgotten,  as  the  national  mind 
changes  or  subsides  beneath  them ;  but  this  is  a 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION. 


Concluding  Appeal  to  Statesmen  and  Legislators. 

measure  which  creates  the  national  mind,  which 
insures,  by  its  firm  and  broad  substructions,  the 
solidity  and  durability  of  every  other  structure." 
You  have  provided  for  other  interests,  far  inferior 
in  importance  to  this,  with  clear-sighted  wisdom, 
and  corresponding  liberality.  You  have  made  this 
country  in  many  respects  a  leading  member  in  the 
great  brotherhood  of  nations.  In  her  internal  im- 
provements, her  prisons,  and  her  various  and  nu- 
merous public  charities,  she  may  challenge  com- 
parison with  the  proudest  of  her  competitors.  Her 
civil  and  social  institutions  have  excited  the  admira- 
tion of  distant  nations,  and  been  made  the  theme  of 
panegyric  before  their  councillors  and  their  senates. 
You,  and  all  of  us,  are  justly  proud  of  these  high  ho- 
nours, and  cherish  the  glory  conferred  upon  our 
country  by  such  exalted  testimonies  to  her  intelli- 
gence, her  humanity,  and  her  public  spirit.  But,  like 
the  young  man  in  the  Gospel,  she  lacks  one  thing; 
and  that,  as  in  his  case,  is  the  most  important.  It  is 
a  broad,  sound,  liberal  system  of  public  instruction 
in  each  of  her  constituent  members.  I  am  not, 
indeed,  insensible  to  the  efforts  already  made,  nor 
to  the  good  actually  accomplished  ;  and  it  would 
ill  become  me  to  disparage  them.  Some  of  you 
have  nobly  entered  upon  the  good  work  of  reform.* 


*  The  legislatures  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and 
some  other  states,  have  commenced  the  work  in  earnest,  and  are 
prosecuting  it  with  activity. 


HINTS  ON  POPULAR  EDUCATION.         355 

Reward  to  be  gained  by  providing  for  the  Enlightenment  of  the  People. 

Carry  it  forward,  carry  it  forward,  with  a  Spartan 
spirit  of  perseverance,  to  its  full  completion.  Crown 
the  honour  of  the  nation.  Establish  every  where 
schools  for  the  people,  multiply  the  sources  of 
knowledge,  lay  deep  and  broad  the  foundations  of 
enlightened  systems  of  popular  education; — and 
your  reward  shall  be  in  the  consciousness  of  duty 
performed  and  benefits  conferred  ;  posterity,  to  the 
latest  age,  shall  bless  your  memory;  and  the  glory 
of  millennial  illumination  shall  be  hastened  by  your 
labours. 


HOGAN    &   THOMPSON, 

WHOLESALE  BOOKSELLERS,  STATIONERS,  AND  PUBLISHERS, 

No.  30  NORTH  FOURTH  STREET, 

TWO  DOORS  BELOW  SANDERSON'S  HOTEL, 

PHILADELPHIA, 


Offer  to  the  School  Committees,  Country  Merchants,  Book- 
sellers, and  others',  the  following  valuable  Books  of  their  own 
publication.  The  School  Books  they  particularly  recommend 
to  the  attention  of  Teachers,  Parents,  and  Guardians  of  the 
Young. 

The  series  by  Emerson,  referred  to  by  Mr.  Wines,  at  page  215 
of  his  work,  are  particularly  worthy  of  attention.  They  have 
besides  recommendations  from  the  highest  sources  in  this 
country  ;  the  most  eminent  teachers,  school  committees,  and 
the  controllers  of  public  schools,  have  concurred  in  introducing 
them  into  the  institutions  under  their  respective  charge,  and  in 
recommending  them  to  others. 


The  series  consists  of 

THE  FIRST  CLASS  READER. 

THE  SECOND  CLASS  READER. 

THE  THIRD  CLASS  READER. 

THE  FOURTH  CLASS  READER. 

THE  NEW  NATIONAL  SPELLING-BOOK. 

THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  ARITHMETIC,  PART  FIRST. 

THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  ARITHMETIC,  PART  SECOND. 

THE  ACADEMICAL  SPEAKER,  and 

EMERSON'S  PROGRESSIVE  PRIMER. 


MR.  EMERSON  in  his  Suggestions  to  Teachers,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  First  Class  Reader,  recommends  the  in- 
troduction into  our  American  schools,  of  the  explanatory 
system  of  instruction  successfully  practised  in  the  Edin- 
burgh Sessional  School  under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Wood. 
An  account  of  the  Edinburgh  Sessional  School  was  pub- 
lished some  time  ago  in  Boston,  and  a  detailed  notice  also 
of  the  methods  of  examination  therein  will  be  found  on  re- 
ference to  Mr.  Emerson's  First  and  Third  Class  Readers. 
We  cannot  better  explain  this  system,  in  its  application  to 
the  exercise  of  reading,  than  by  presenting  an  extract  from 
Mr.  Wood's  valuable  work.  The  following  is  one  of  the 
methods  of  applying  the  principles  of  examination  laid  down 
by  Mr.  Wood. 

"  Before  entering-  upon  the  consideration  of  the  reading  department,  it 
may  be  proper  to  premise  some  general  observations,  on  that  method  of  EX- 
PLANATION, which  has  been  so  highly  approved  of, in  the  Sessional  School. 
Its  object  is  threefold :  first,  To  render  more  easy  and  pleasing  the  acquisi- 
tion of  the  mechanical  art  of  reading  ;  secondly,  To  turn  to  advantage  the 
particular  instruction  contained  in  every  individual  passage  which  is  read  ; 
and,  above  all,  thirdly,  To  give  the  pupil,  by  means  of  a  minute  analysis  of 
each  passage,  a  general  command  of  his  own  language. 

"  It  is  of  great  importance  to  the  proper  understanding  of  the  method,  that 
all  these  objects  should  be  kept  distinctly  in  view.  With  regard  to  ihe'jirst, 
no  one,  who  has  not  witnessed  the  scheme  in  operation,  can  well  imagine  the 
animation  and  energy  which  it  inspires.  It  is  the  constant  remark  of  almost 
every  stranger  who  visits  the  Sessional  School,  that  its  pupils  have  not  at  all 
the  ordinary  appearance  of  school-boys,  doomed  to  an  unwilling  task,  but 
rather  the  happy  faces  of  children  at  their  sports.  This  distinction  is  chiefly 
to  be  attributed  to  that  part  of  the  system  of  which  we  are  here  treating ; 
by  which,  in  place  of  harassing  the  pupil  with  a  mere  mechanical  routine  of 
sounds  and  technicalities,  his  attention  is  excited,  his  curiosity  is  gratified, 
and  his  fancy  is  amused. 

"  In  the  second  place,  when  proper  books  are  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
scholars,  every  article,  which  they  read,  may  be  made  the  means,  not  only 
of  forming  in  their  youthful  minds  the  invaluable  habit  of  attention,  but  also 
of  communicating  to  them,  along  with  facility  in  the  art  of  reading,  much 
information,  which  is  both  adapted  to  their  present  age,  and  may  be  of  use  to 
them  the  rest  of  their  lives.  Flow  different  is  the  result,  where  the  mechani- 
cal art  is  made  the  exclusive  object  of  the  master's  and  the  pupil's  attention  ! 
How  many  fine  passages  have  been  read  in  the  most  pompous  manner,  with- 
out rousing  a  single  sentiment  in  the  mind  of  the  performer  !  How  many,  in 
which  they  have  left  behind  them  only  the  mosterroneous  and  absurd  impres- 
sions and  associations ! 


3 

"  But,  in  the  last  place,  they  little  know  the  full  vnlue  of  the  explanatory 
method,  who  think  it  unnecessary,  in  any  case,  to  carry  it  beyond  what  is 
absolutely  essential  to  enable  the  pupil  to  understand  the  meaning  of  the  in- 
dividual passage  before  him  at  the  time.  As  well,  indeed,  might  it  be  main- 
tained, that,  in  parsing,  the  only  object  in  view  should  be  the  elucidation  of 
the  particular  sentence  parsed  ;  or  that,  in  reading  Csesar's  Commentaries  in 
a  grammar  school,  the  pupil's  sole  attention  should  be  directed  to  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  Gallic  war  was  conducted.  A  very  little  reflection,  how- 
ever, should  be  sufficient  to  show,  how  erroneous  such  a  practice  would  be 
in  either  case.  The  passages  gone  over  in  school  must  of  course  be  very 
few  and  limited,  and  the  direct  information  communicated  through  them  ex- 
tremely scanty.  The  skill  of  the  instructor  must  therefore  be  exhibited,  not 
merely  in  enabling  the  pupil  to  understand  these  few  passages,  but  in  mak- 
ing every  lesson  bear  upon  the  proper  object  of  his  labours,  the  giving  a 
general  knowledge  and  full  command  of  the  language,  which  it  is  his  pro- 
vince to  teach,  together  with  as  much  other  useful  information,  as  the  pas- 
sage may  suggest  and  circumstances  will  admit.  As  in  parsing,  accordingly, 
no  good  teacher  would  be  satisfied  with  examining  his  pupil  upon  the  syn- 
tactic construction  of  the  passage  before  him  as  it  stands,  and  making  him 
repeat  the  rules  of  that  construction,  but  would  also,  at  the  same  time,  call 
upon  him  to  notice  the  variations,  which  must  necessarily  be  made  in  cer- 
tain hypothetical  circumstances ;  so  also  in  the  department,  of  which  we  are 
now  treating,  he  will  not  consider  it  enough,  that  the  child  may  have,  from 
the  context  or  otherwise,  formed  a  general  notion  of  the  meaning,  of  a  whole 
passage,  but  will  also,  with  a  view  to  future  exigences,  direct  his  attention  to 
the  full  force  and  signification  of  the  particular  terms  employed,  and  like- 
wise, in  some  cases  at  least,  to  their  roots,  derivatives,  and  compounds. 
Thus,  for  example, if  in  any  lesson  the  scholar  read  of  one  having  'done an 
unprecedented  act,'  it  might  be  quite  sufficient  for  understanding  the  mean- 
ing of  that  single  passage,  to  tell  him  that  'no  other  person  had  ever  done 
the  like;'  but  this  would  by  no  means  fully  accomplish  the  object  we  have 
in  view.  The  child  would  thus  receive  no  clear  notion  of  the  word  unpre- 
cedented, and  would,  therefore,  in  all  probability,  on  the  very  next  occasion 
of  its  recurrence  or  of  the  recurrence  of  other  words  from  the  same  root,  be 
as  much  at  a  loss  as  before.  But  direct  his  attention  to  the  threefold  com- 
position of  this  word,  the  un,  the  pre,  and  the  cede.  Ask  him  the  meaning 
of  the  syllable  un  in  composition,  and  tell  him  to  point  out  to  you  (or  if  ne- 
cessary, point  out  to  him)  any  other  words,  in  which  it  has  this  significa- 
tion of  not,  (such  as  uncommon,  uncivil)  and,  if  there  be  leisure,  any  other 
syllables  which  have  in  composition  a  similar  effect,  such  as  in,  with  all  its 
modifications  \>f  ig,  il,  im,  ir,  also  dis,  and  non,  with  examples.  Next  in- 
vestigate the  meaning  of  the  syllable  pre  in  composition,  and  illustrate  it 
with  examples,  (such  as  previous,  premature.)  Then  examine  in  like  man- 
ner  the  meaning  of  the  syllable  cede,  and  having  shown  that  in  composition 
it  generally  signifies  to  go,  demand  the  signification  of  its  various  compounds 
precede,  proceed,  succeed,  accede,  recede,  exceed,  intercede.  The  pupil  will 
in  this  manner  acquire  not  only  a  much  more  distinct  and  lasting  impression 
of  the  signification  of  the  word  in  question,  but  a  key  also  to  a  vast  variety 
of  other  words  in  the  language.  This  too  he  will  do  far  more  pleasingly 
and  satisfactorily  in  the  manner  which  is  here  recommended,  than  by  being 
enjoined  to  commit  them  to  memory  from  a  vocabulary  at  home  as  a  task. 
It  is  very  true  that  it  would  not  be  possible  to  go  over  every  word  of  a  les- 
son with  the  same  minuteness,  as  that  we  have  now  instanced.  A  certain 


portion  of  time  should  therefore  be  set  apart  for  this  examination  :  and,  after 
those  explanations  have  been  given,  which  are  necessary  to  the  right  under- 
standing of  the  passage,  such  minuter  investigations  only  may  be  gone  into 
as  time  will  admit.  It  is  no  more  essential,  that  every  word  should  be  gone 
over  in  this  way,  than  that  every  word  should  always  be  syntactically  parsed. 
A  single  sentence  well  done  may  prove  of  the  greatest  service  to  the  scho- 
lar in  his  future  studies." 

In  applying  this  system  of  instruction  to  the  First  Class 
Reader,  I  would  recommend  that  the  pupils  have  the  read- 
ing exercise  for  the  day,  previously  assigned  to  them,  in 
order  that  there  may  be  an  opportunity  for  them  carefully 
to  study  the  same,  in  reference  to  the  examination  that  is  to 
follow.  In  reading  the  book  the  first  time,  the  examination 
should  be  general,  rather  than  otherwise ;  let  the  pupils  be 
questioned  in  regard  to  the  general  sense  of  the  piece,  and 
the  meaning  of  prominent  words  in  it.  Explanation  and 
illustration  should  be  given  by  the  teacher;  such  as  the 
meaning  of  any  passage,  its  allusions,  figures,  &c.  may  re- 
quire. Care  should  be  taken  that  the  scholars  do  not  for- 
get these  explanations ;  this  may  be  prevented  by  recurring 
to  them  at  subsequent  examinations.  In  order  to  show  the 
nature  of  this  first  examination,  a  specimen  is  subjoined. 

In  going  through  the  volume  the  second  time,  a  more 
particular  examination  should  be  instituted.  Not  only  the 
same  kind  of  questions,  which  have  already  been  put,  are 
to  be  repeated,  but  the  pupils  should  be  examined  with  re- 
ference to  the  analysis  of  words,  their  inflections  and  analo- 
gies ;  and  also  with  reference  to  the  rhetorical  features  of 
the  composition,  and  the  topics  of  general  information  sug- 
gested by  the  text. 

Of  this  second  examination,  a  specimen,  such  as  our  limits 
would  allow,  is  also  subjoined.  Its  nature  and  character, 
the  extent  to  which  it  may  be  carried,  and  the  interest,  which 
it  may  be  made  to  impart  to  the  exercise,  will  at  once  be 
felt  and  appreciated  by  every  intelligent  teacher. 

We  will  take  for  an  example  of  the  following  examina- 
tions, an  extract  from  the  writing  of  the  Rev.  Sidney  Smith. 

APPEAL  IN  BEHALF  OF  THE  BLIND. 

The  author  of  the  book  of  Ecclesiastes  has  told  us,  "  that  the  light  is 
sweet ;  that  it  is  a  pleasant  thing  for  the  eyes  to  behold  the  sun."  The  sense 
of  sight  is,  indeed,  the  highest  bodily  privilege,  the  purest  physical  pleasure, 
which  man  has  derived  from  his  Creator  : — to  see  that  wandering  fire,  after 
he  has  finished  his  journey  through  the  nations,  coming  back  to  us  in  the 


eastern  heavens  ;  the  mountains  painted  with  light ;  the  floating  splendour 
of  the  sea;  the  earth  waking  from  deep  slumber;  the  day  flowing  down  the 
sides  of  the  hills,  till  it  reaches  the  secret  valleys ;  the  little  insect  recalled  to 
life;  the  bird  trying  her  wings;  man  going  forth  to  his  labour;  each 
created  being  moving,  thinking,  acting,  contriving,  according  to  the  scheme 
and  compass  of  its  nature  ;  by  force,  by  cunning,  by  reason,  by  necessity. — 
Is  it  possible  to  joy  in  this  animated  scene,  and  feel  no  pity  for  the  sons  of 
darkness  ?  for  the  eyes  that  will  never  taste  the  sweet  light  ?  for  the  poor, 
clouded  in  everlasting  gloom  ? 

If  you  ask  me  why  they  are  miserable  and  dejected ;  I  turn  you  to  the 
plentiful  valleys ;  to  the  fields,  bringing  forth  their  increase ;  to  the  fresh- 
ness and  flowers  of  the  earth ;  to  the  endless  variety  of  its  colours ;  to  the 
grace,  the  symmetry,  the  shape  of  all  it  cherishes,  and  all  it  bears.  These 
you  have  forgotten,  because  you  have  always  enjoyed  them  ;  but  these  arc 
the  means  by  which  God  Almighty  makes  man  what  he  is;  cheerful,  lively, 
erect ;  full  of  enterprise,  mutable,  glancing  from  heaven  to  earth ;  prone  to 
labour  and  to  act. 

This  is  the  reason  why  the  blind  are  miserable  and  dejected — because 
their  soul  is  mutilated,  and  dismembered  of  its  best  sense  ;  because  they  are 
a  laughter,  and  a  ruin,  and  the  boys  of  the  streets  mock  at  their  stumbling 
feet. 

Therefore  I  implore  you,  by  the  son  of  David,  have  mercy  on  ihe  blind. 
If  there  is  not  pity  for  all  sorrows,  turn  the  full  and  perfect  man  to  meet  the 
inclemency  of  fate.  Let  not  those  who  have  never  tasted  the  pleasures  of 
existence,  be  assailed  by  any  of  its  sorrows.  The  eyes  that  are  never  glad- 
dened with  light,  should  never  stream  with  tears. 

First  examination  on  the  foregoing  extract. 

What  is  the  title  of  the  piece  1  Who  is  the  author  ?  What 
sacred  writer  does  he  quote  ?  What  is  the  quotation  ? 
What  is  the  "highest  bodily  privilege?"  What  is  meant  by 
the  word  "bodily?"  What  is  here  meant  by  the  word 
"  physical  ?"  What  pleasures  are  higher  and  purer  than 
bodily  or  physical  ones  1  What  other  senses  have  we,  be- 
sides that  of  sight  1  Whose  gift  are  they  ?  What  is  the 
"  wandering  fire,"  mentioned  in  the  text?  Why  is  it  spoken 
of  as  "  coming  back  to  us  in  the  eastern  heavens  ?"  What 
are  the  effects  of  its  rising,  so  beautifully  described  in  the 
text?  What  wakes  the  insects  and  the  birds,  and  sends  man 
forth  to  his  labour  ?  What  are  the  effects  of  its  return,  on 
other  created  beings  ?  Do  these  effects  of  light  prove  the 
truth  of  the  sacred  writer's  assertion  quoted  above  ?  What 
feeling  should  our  enjoyment  of  the  morning  light  excite 
towards  the  blind  ?  What  beautiful  objects  of  sight  are 
spoken  of?  Why  do  we  forget  their  beauty  and  value? 
What  is  the  effect  of  the  beauties  of  nature  on  man  ?  Why 
are  the  blind  sad  and  dejected  ?  Why  are  the  blind  pecu- 
liarly entitled  to  our  compassion  ? 


6 

These  books  are  of  but  little  more  than  one  year's  publication,  and  yet  they 
are  already  introduced  into  the  greater  part  of  the  Schools  of  New  England, 
New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Ohio,  and 
into  many  of  the  towns  in  Tenucsee,  Indiana,  Illinois,  &c. 

The  Spelling-Book,  Readers,  Academical  Speaker,  and  Progressive  Primer, 
are  by  Benjamin  D.  Emerson,  late  principal  of  the  Adams  Grammar  School, 
Boston. 

The  Arithmetics  are  by  Frederick  Emerson,  Principal  of  the  Department 
of  Arithmetic  in  Doylston  School,  Boston. 

Both  of  these  gentlemen  have  consumed  the  greater  part  of  their  lives  in 
imparting  knowledge  to  youth,  and  after  years  of  study  and  reflection  have 
given  the  above  series  of  useful  books,  as  the  result  of  their  own  observation 
and  labour. 

Mr.  B.  D.  Emerson  was  several  years  in  preparing  the  New  National 
Spelling-Book,  and  it  was  not  given  to  the  public  until  it  had  passed  through 
a  number  of  careful  revisions.  A  work  so  prepared,  could  not  fail  to  be  of  a 
high  grade;  eminent  Orthographists  have  pronounced  it  to  be  the  best  of 
any  before*  the  public. 

LARDNER'S  OUTLINES  OF  UNIVERSAL  HISTORY, 

Embracing  a  concise  History  of  the  World  from  the  earliest  period  to  the 
present  time,  arranged  so  that  the  whole  may  be  studied  by  periods,  or  the 
history  of  any  country  may  be  read  by  itself.  With  questions  for  the 
examination  of  students.  The  work  is  beautifully  illustrated  with  49 
superior  engravings,  representing  some  of  the  most  interesting  historical 
scenes. 

The  author  in  his  " Advertisement"  to  this  work,  says — "The  object  of 
the  writer  of  the  present  volume  has  been  to  give  a  correct,  and,  as  far  as 
the  limits  would  permit,  a  comprehensive  epitome  of  the  history  of  the  world, 
which  accuracy  of  narrative  and  chronology  wpuld  render  valuable  as  a 
book  of  reference,  and  in  which  general  views  and  reflections  would  remove 
the  dryness  inseparable  from  a  mere  enumeration  of  facts.  And  it  is  hoped, 
that  the  tyro  who  studies  it  with  attention,  will  find  himself  at  the  termina- 
tion of  his  labour,  ignorant  of  few  of  the  great  characters  and  events  which 
occur  in  the  history  of  the  world." 

The  book  is  arranged  with  the  chronological  dates  in  the  margin  of  each 
page,  so  that  the  student  may  at  a  moment  ascertain  the  time  of  any  par- 
ticular transaction.  Besides,  it  has  a  copious  index;  a  tabular  view  of  royal 
dynasties;  a  chronological  table  of  eminent  persons,  showing  the  time  of 
their  birth  and  death,  and  a  chronological  view  of  important  events  from 
the  first  olympiad  till  the  year  1829. 

Every  parent  should  place  this  volume  in  the  hands  of  his  children,  and 
schoolmasters  who  value  the  time  and  improvement  of  those  entrusted  to 
their  care,  would  do  well  to  examine  and  place  the  work  before  their  scholars. 
In  it  they  will  find  much  that  is  new  in  arrangement,  and  a  vast  collection 
of  facts  that  have  never  yet  appeared  in  any  one  work  of  History. 

RUSSEL'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

RUSSEI/S  HISTORY  OF  FRANCE. 

RUSSEL'S  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND,  SCOTLAND,  AND  IRELAND. 
RUSSEL'S  HISTORIES  OF  ANCIENT  GREECE  AND  ROME.. 

The  two  first  named  of  the  above  Histories,  The  United  States  and  France, 


arc  already  published  ;  the  two  others  are  in  progress  now  through  the  press 
and  will  be  published  in  the  ensuing  spring.  They  are  written  with  the  ex- 
press design  of  use  in  American  schools,  and  particularly  harmonise  in  their 
character  with  the  system  of  Public  School  Instruction.  They  are  not  merely 
a  dry  detail  of  facts,  but  render  History  subservient  to  the  advancement  of 
the  thinking  faculties  and  the  elevation  of  moral  character,  enlivened  with 
anecdotes  of  eminent  and  virtuous  individuals.  The  grave  study  of  History 
is  delightfully  relieved  by  the  innumerable  interesting  points  of  Biography. 

ELEMENTS  OF  MYTHOLOGY. 

Or,  Classical  Fables  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans — to  which  are  added  notices 
of  Syrian,  Hindoo,  and  Scandinavian  superstitions,  together  with  those  of 
the  Aboriginal  American  Nations ;  the  whole  comparing  Polytheism  with 
true  religion. 

This  book  has  been  prepared  expressly  for  the  youth  of  this  country,  and 
it  will  prove  a  valuable  acquisition  to  those,  who  do  not  or  cannot  study  the 
superstitions  of  the  ancient  in  his  original  language.  But  few  works  of  this 
kind  have  appeared  before  the  public,  none  in  fact,  embracing  as  much  as 
the  present  volume — most  of  those  already  published,  have  contained  so 
many  indelicate  passages  relative  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  ancients, 
as  to  almost  forbid  the  use  of  them  in  female  schools — this  has  been  par- 
ticularly guarded  against  in  the  present  publication.  A  work,  perfectly 
pure,  and  though  elementary,  embracing  all  the  prominent  facts  of  the  most 
voluminous  on  the  subject,  was  much  wanted,  and  the  publishers  think  they 
have  succeeded  in  placing  such  a  one  within  the  reach  of  all. 

KAMES'  ELEMENTS  OF  CRITICISM. 

Being  an  abridgment  of  the  large  work  of  the  celebrated  Lord  Kames. 

The  original  book  has  long  been  known  as  a  standard  in  most  of  the  Col- 
leges— a  smaller  work  of  the  kind  having  been  in  much  demand,  the  present 
publishers  deemed  it  advisable  to  issue  an  abridgment — accordingly,  an  able 
editor  was  procured  and  the  work  effected  ; — it  is  arranged  with  questions 
for  the  examination  of  students,  &c.  and  is  calculated  to  be  of  much  service 
in  improving  the  style  of  scholars.  The  work  is  popular. 

MARSH'S  BOOK-KEEPING, 

Or  the  Science  of  Double  Entry  Book-Keeping,  simplified  by  an  infallible 
rule  for  Debtor  and  Creditor,  calculated  to  insure  a  complete  knowledge 
of  the  theory  and  practice  of  accounts,  by  C.  C.  MARSH,  Accountant. 
The  above  is  the  system  by  which  nearly  all  the  mercantile  accounts  of 

the  Atlantic  cities  are  kept. 

JAUDON'S  EXPOSITOR, 

Or  the  English  Orthographical  Expositor  ;  being  a  compendious  selection  of 
the  most  useful  words  in  the  English  language,  alphabetically  arranged, 


8 

divided,  accented,  and  explained,  according  to  the  most  approved  modern 
authorities;  also  a  list  of  more  than  eight  hundred  words,  similar,  or  near- 
ly similar  in  sound,  but  of  different  spelling  and  import,  by  DANIEL  JAUDON, 
THOMAS  WATSON,  and  STEPHEN  ADDINGTON.  Fifteenth  Edition. 

This  book  is  much  better  adapted  to  primary  schools  than  the  larger  dic- 
tionaries, it  is  more  convenient,  more  explicit,  and  better  suited  to  the  com- 
prehension of  the  young,  in  its  definitions  and  expositions  of  the  different 
words.  Teachers  will  do  well  to  examine  the  work. 


CORDERI1  COLLOQUIA, 

Or  Corderius'  Colloquies,  with  a  literal  translation  of  the  first  forty,  and  pars- 
ing exercises  on  the  first  eight.  To  which  is  added  a  vocabulary  of  all 
the  words  which  occur  in  the  book.  A  new  edition,  much  improved. 

The  advantages  of  literal  translations  of  the  easier  authors  in  the  Latin 
tongue  for  the  use  of  beginners,  is  so  very  great,  and  so  very  obvious,  that 
it  will  appear  to  all,  upon  a  little  reflection,  a  wonder,  that  our  schools 
should  have  remained  so  long  without  helps  of  this  kind.  A  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  French  and  other  living  languages  is  acquired  in  one  half 
the  time  usually  occupied  by  the  student  of  Latin — the  reason  of  this  is  ob- 
vious :  at  the  commencement  of  the  study  of  a  living  language  a  book  of  collo- 
quial phrases,  or  a  literal  translation  of  some  easy  author  is  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  student ;  and  he  is  therefore  enabled  to  proceed  with  greater  rapi- 
dity, than  he  could  in  any  other  manner,  at  the  same  time  sufficient  thought 
is  required  to  exercise  the  mind,  and  form  a  retentive  memory.  If  a  system 
of  this  kind  can  be  pursued,  as  it  has,  in  one  language,  it  certainly  may  in 
another,  and  the  success  that  has  attended  the  use  of  Corderius,  amply 
proves,  that  as  much  benefit  may  be  derived  from  the  studying  of  an  ancient 
tongue  in  this  manner,  as  from  that  of  a  modern  ;  and  teachers  who  value 
the  time  and  advancement  of  their  scholars,  would  do  well  to  use  this  little 
volume. 

CICERO  DE  OFFICIIS, 

Or  M.  Tullii  Ciceronis  de  Officiis  Libri  Tres.  Accedunt  in  usum  juventutis 
notse  quffidam  Anglice  scriptae. 

This  is  a  new  and  very  handsome  edition,  much  improved  and  enlarged, 
with  English  notes,  comments,  &c.  Sir  Roger  L'Estrange  in  his  preface 
to  an  English  translation  observes,  that  this  is  one  of  the  commonest  school 
books  we  have ;  and  as  it  is  the  best  of  books,  so  it  is  applied  to  the  best  of 
purposes,  the  training  of  youth  to  the  study  and  exercise  of  virtue. 

CICERO'S  ORATIONS, 

Or  M.  T.  Ciceronis  Orationes,  qusedam  selecte  in  usum  Dclphini,  cum 
interpretatione  et  historia  succincta  verum  gestarum  et  scriptorum  M.  T. 
Ciceronis. 


IAW  BOOKS. 


Law  Books. 


AMERICAN  CONSTITUTIONS, 

Or  Americans'  Guide,  containing  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation,  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  the  Con- 
stitutions of  the  several  states  composing  the  Union. 
Every  one  calling  himself  an  American  should  be  acquainted,  not  only 
with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  but  with  that  of  each  of  the 
states  of  the  Union.      This  little  volume  offers  a  ready  and  cheap  means  of 
acquiring  information  of  daily  call  and  use.     Every  one  should  possess  it,  as 
a  reference  book  in  times  of  political  contest  and  excitement;  by  comparing 
the  opinions  of  candidates  for  office,  with  the  letter  of  the  Constitution,  each 
man  may  judge  which  is  the  fitting  person  to  represent  himself  and  county 
in  the  Halls  of  Legislation. 

BAYARD'S  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE 

UNITED  STATES. 

In  which  the  various  Articles  and  Sections  of  the  Constitution  are  fully  ex- 
plained. 

This  work  has  been  highly  recommended  by  the  late  Chief  Justice  Mar- 
shall, Judge  Story,  Chancellor  Kent,  and  other  distinguished  jurists.  The 
work  is  used  in  the  Military  School  at  West  Point,  and  many  other  institu- 
tions of  education. 

JONES  ON  BAILMENTS. 

An  Essay  on  the  Law  of  Bailments.  By  Sir  William  Jones,  Knt.,  late  one 
of  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature  at  Bengal.  From  the 
last  London  edition.  With  notes  on  the  American  Law  of  Bailments,  by  a 
Gentleman  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar.  Added  to  the  work  is  an  Appendix, 
containing  Mr.  Nichols'  note  on  the  Law  of  Carriers.  The  edition  is  new 
and  beautifully  printed. 

THEOBALD  ON  PRINCIPAL  AND  SURETY. 

Or  a  Practical  Treatise  on  the  Law  of  Principal  and  Surety,  particularly 
with  relation  to  Mercantile  Guaranties,  Bills  of  Exchange,  and  Bail  Bonds. 
This  work  is  very  essential  to  the  library  of  a  lawyer,  and  every  business 

man  should  also  be  in  possession  of  one.    The  work  is  entirely  new  having 

been  reprinted  from  a  late  London  edition. 


10  CATALOGUE  OF 

FORM  BOOK, 

Containing  nearly  three  hundred  of  the  most  approved  forms  of  precedents  for 
Conveyancing,  Arbitration,  Bills  of  Exchange,  Promissory  Notes,  Receipts, 
Lelters  of  Attorney,  Bonds,  Mortgages,  Copartnerships,  Leases,  Petitions, 
Wills,  &c.  &c.  &c.    By  a  Member  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar. 
This  work  is  of  incalculable  advantage  to  everyone ;  with  the  aid  of  it 

he  can  draw  up  any  articles  of  agreement  in  a  legal  form,  without  having 

recourse  to  an  attorney,  and  by  having  it  he  not  only  saves  much  time,  but 

also  expense. 

VATTEL'S  LAW  OF  NATIONS,  1  vol.  6vo. 

The  Law  of  Nations,  or  principles  of  the  laws  of  nature  applied  to  the  con- 
duct and  affairs  of  nations  and  sovereigns.    From  the  French  of  M.  de 
Vattel.    Fourth  American  edition  from  a  new  edition.  By  JOHN  CHIT- 
TY,  ESQ.,  Barrister  at  Law. 
This  edition  has  been  much  enlarged  and  improved. 

PENNSYLVANIA  PRACTICE,  2  vols. 

Notes  on  Practice,  exhibiting  a  view  of  the  proceedings  in  Civil  Actions  in 
the  Supreme  Court,  the  District  Courts,  and  Courts  of  Common  Pleas  of 
Pennsylvania,  by  FRANCIS  J.  TROUBAT  &  WM.  W.  HALEY.  A  new  edi- 
tion, embracing  all  the  Acts  of  the  Assembly  in  its  recent  Extra  Session. 


DIGEST  OF  THE  LAWS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

A  new  edition  of  this  work  will  shortly  be  put  in  press. 

JEFFERSON'S  MANUAL  OF  PARLIAMENTARY  PRACTICE, 

Composed  originally  for  the  use  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  By 
Thomas  Jefferson — with  references  to  the  practice  and  rules  of  the  House 
of  Representatives.  The  whole  brought  down  to  the  practice  of  the  pre- 
sent time.  To  which  are  added  the  rules  and  orders  of  both  houses  of 
Congress. 

THOMAS'  COKE. 

A  Systematic  Arrangement  of  Lord  Coke's  First  Institute  of  the  Laws  of 
England,  on  the  Plan  of  Sir  Matthew  Hale's  Analysis ;  with  the  Annota- 
tions of  Mr.  Hargrave,  Lord  Chief  Justice  Hale,  and  Lord  Chancellor 
Nottingham ;  and  a  new  Series  of  Notes  and  References  to  the  present 
time,  including  tables  of  parallel  reference,  analytical  table  of  Contents, 
and  a  copious  digested  Index.  In  3  vols.  By  J.  H.  THOMAS,  Esq.  New- 
Edition,  much  handsomer  than  the  last  edition. 


MEDICAL,  BOOK*.  11 


medical  Book*. 


GREGORY'S  PRACTICE  OF  PHYSIC. 

Elements  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Physic,  By  George  Gregory,  M.  D. 
With  notes  and  additions  adapted  to  the  practice  of  the  United  States,  By 
NATHANIEL  POTTER,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  the  practice  of  Physic  in  the 
University  of  Maryland,  and  S.  COLHOUN,  M.  D. 

Notice  from  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Review. 

"  It  is  really  refreshing  to  read  the  pages  of  Dr.  Gregory,  for  while  we 
read  them  we  feel  that  we  hold  converse  with  a  man  who  loves  truth.  He 
describes  that  which  he  has  seen  or  believes  to  be  true  from  indisputable 
testimony  ;  his  opinions,  his  descriptions,  his  observations,  and  his  deduc- 
tions, may  be  aptly  compared  with  the  useful  labour  of  a  faithful  biogra- 
pher, and  not  to  the  imposing  efforts  of  a  novel  or  romance  writer." 

COLHOUN'S  PROUT. 

An  inquiry  into  the  nature  and  treatment  of  Diabetes,  Calculus  and  other 
affections  of  the  Urinary  Organs ;  with  remarks  on  the  importance  of 
attending  to  the  state  of  the  Urine  in  Organic  Diseases  of  the  Kidney 
and  Bladder ;  and  some  practical  rules  for  determining  the  nature  of  the 
disease  from  the  sensible  and  chemical  properties  of  the  secretion.  By 
WM.  PROUT,  M.  D.,  F.  R.  S.     Revised  and  much  enlarged  with  notes  and 
additions.  By  S.  COLHOUN,  M.  D.,  Member  of  the  American  Philosophical 
Society,  Corresponding  Member  of  the  Medical  Society,  London. 
Speaking  of  the  merits  of  Dr.  Prout's  book,  the  Editors  of  the  London 
Medical  Repository  state,  "  We  have  just  closed  his  book,  with  an  admira- 
tion at  once  of  his  scientific  attainments  and  moderate  pretensions.     We 
have  seldom  perused  a  work  so  free  from  the  vice  of  book-making,  or  so 
little  tinctured  with  the  cant  of  medical  hypothesis." 

THE  ECLECTIC  AND  GENERAL  DISPENSATORY, 

Comprehending  a  system  of  Pharmacy,  Materia  Medica,  the  Formulae  of 
the  London,  Edinburgh,  and  Dublin  Pharmacopeias,  prescriptions  of 
many  eminent  physicians,  and  receipts  for  the  most  common  Empirical 
Medicines :  together  with  a  full  and  accurate  description  of  all  the  Patent 
Medicines  and  Compounds  used.  Collected  from  the  best  authorities.  By 
S.  COLHOUN,  M.  D. 


12  CATALOGUE  Or 


miscellaneous  Work*. 


GODMAN-S  NATURAL  HISTORY,  2  vols.  8vo. 

American  Natural  History,  by  JOHN  D.  GODMAN,  M.  D.,  Professor  of  Natural 
History  in  the  Franklin  Institute  of  Pennsylvania,  one  of  the  Professors 
of  the  Philadelphia  Museum,  &c.  &c.  A  new  edition,  containing  the 
Life  of  the  Author,  his  Rambles  of  a  Naturalist,  and  some  other  articles 
not  before  published. 

In  his  preface  to  the  first  edition  Dr.  Godinan  says  :  "  In  relation  to  the 
animals  described  in  this  work,  it  has  been  our  constant  aim  to  give  none 
but  such  as  certainly  belong  to  this  country  ;  being  much  more  desirous  of 
presenting  a  faithful  description  of  those  known  to  inhabit  it,  than  to  present 
an  imposing  catalogue  of  *  new  species,''  which  at  best  might  be  little  better 
than  a  string  of  barbarous  new  names  applied  to  old  and  well-known  things." 
This  work  will  be  more  acceptable  to  the  American  public,  from  its  having 
been  written  from  actual  observation  by  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  one 
whose  acknowledged  talents  have  placed  him  in  the  first  rank  of  writers  upon 
Natural  History.  Being  a  work  upon  the  animals  of  America,  and  the  only 
one  ever  published,  it  should  find  its  way  to  the  library  of  every  American 
gentleman. 

DEPPING'S  EVENING  ENTERTAINMENTS, 

Comprising  delineations  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  various  nations,  a 
new  edition,  enlarged  and  improved,  with  thirty-seven  beautiful  engravings 
on  wood. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  instructive  books  for  youth  that 

has  been  published  for  a  long  time. 

SMITH'S  THUCYDIDES. 

The  history  of  the  Peloponnesian  War,  translated  from  the  Greek  of  Thucy- 
dides,  by  WILLIAM  SMITH,  A.  M.,  a  new  and  beautiful  edition,  corrected 
and  revised,  with  a  portrait  of  Thucydides,  1  vol.  8vo. 

ROLLIN'S  HISTORY,  1  vol.  8vo. 

The  Ancient  History  of  the  Egyptians,  Carthaginians,  Assyrians,  Babylo. 
nians,  Medes  and  Persians,  Grecians,  and  Macedonians,  including  a  his- 
tory of  the  arts  and  sciences  of  the  ancients.  By  CHARLES  ROLLIN,  Principal 
of  the  University  of  Paris.  With  a  life  and  portrait  of  the  author.  New 
and  improved  edition,  in  I  vol.  8vo.,  with  coloured  maps,  &c. 


MISCELLANEOUS  BOOKS.  13 

BYRON'S  WORKS,  1  vol.  8vo. 

A  new  edition  of  the  works  of  LORD  BYRON,  in  verse  and  prose,  including  his 
Letters,  Journals,  &c.,  with  a  sketch  of  his  life,  and  a  number  of  Poems 
not  before  published,  new  plates,  &c. 

SHAKSPEARE,  1  vol.  8vo. 

The  Dramatic  works  and  Poems  of  WM.  SHAKSPEARE,  with  notes  original 
and  selected,  and  introductory  remnrks  to  each  play ;  together  with  a  life 
of  the  Poet.  New  edition,  1  vol.  8vo.  with  beautiful  illustrations.  This 
edition  contains  some  Poems  not  published  in  the  common  editions  of  his 
works. 

Just  Published, 

THE  AMERICAN  GENTLEMAN, 
By  CHARLES  BUTLER,  ESQ. 

THE  AMERICAN  LADY, 
By  CHARLES  BUTLER,  ESQ. 

The  above  are  two  new  and  beautiful  works,  each  one  contains  two  fine 
steel  engravings,  illustrative  of  portions  of  the  works. 

The  American  Gentleman  constitutes  a  manual  for  daily  use.  It  discusses 
the  duties,  accomplishments,  and  qualifications  of  mind  and  manners  of 
a  gentleman.  Its  design  is  to  point  out  the  true  principles  of  manly  and 
polite  conduct  in  all  situations,  and  to  furnish  proper  maxims  for  the  con- 
duct of  business  as  well  as  the  general  conduct  of  life. 

The  American  Lady  is  a  little  volume  designed  as  a  companion  for  the 
American  Gentleman,  and  is  prepared  in  the  same  elegant  style.  The  prin- 
ciples of  conduct  in  life  which  it  contains  are  adapted  to  our  own  country, 
where  it  is  customary  to  regard  real  virtue  and  elevated  mental  and  moral 
character  as  the  indispensable  requisites  for  female  excellence,  and  as  con- 
stituting  the  proper  basis  for  domestic  happiness. 

A  gentleman  writing  to  a  friend,  mentions  these  works  in  the  following 
terms : 

"  'Mongst  other  works  recently  published,  are  the  '  American  Gentleman' 
and  '  the  American  Lady-1  you  will,  perhaps,  be  struck  as  I  was,  with  the 
titles.  Upon  hastily  looking  through  these  little  volumes  I  was  much  pleased, 
and  purchased  one  of  each  for  my  son  and  daughter.  Upon  a  more  careful 
perusal  I  have  been  astonished  that  so  much  useful  and  excellent  advice  could 
be  embodied  in  works  of  their  size.  Everything  in  the  way  of  accomplish- 
ments and  qualifications  of  mind,  manners  and  general  deportment,  either  of 
a  lady  or  a  gentleman,  is  given  in  a  little  pocket  volume  of  288  pages.  I 
would  recommend  these  works  particularly  to  you  as  presents  to  your  chil- 

2 


14  CATALOGUE  OF 

dren,  which  they  in  after  years  will  experience  the  value  of.  Mr.  Butler, 
the  author  of  these  little  volumes,  has  conferred  an  obligation  on  the  rising 
youth  of  this  country;  and  parents  may  well  thank  him  for  his  efforts  to 
impart  useful  rules  for  the  conduct  of  their  children  through  life." 

THE  AMERICAN  JEST  BOOK, 

Being  a  chaste  collection  of  Anecdotes,  Bon  Mots,  and  Epigrams,  original 
and  selected,  for  the  amusement  of  the  young  and  old  of  both  sexes ;  by 
the  author  of  the  American  Chesterfield — Ride  si  sapis. 

THE  NEW  UNIVERSAL  LETTER  WRITER; 

Or  Complete  Art  of  Polite  Correspondence:  containing  a  course  of  interest- 
ing letters  on  the  most  important,  instructive  and  entertaining  subjects ; 
to  which  are  prefixed,  an  Essay  on  Letter  Writing,  and  a  set  of  Compli- 
mental  Cards  suited  to  occasions  on  which  an  extraordinary  degree  of  po- 
liteness should  be  observed. 


Rcligiou§  Work*. 


DICK'S  FUTURE  STATE,  1  vol.  18mo.,  bound. 

The  Philosophy  of  a  Future  State ;  or  Reasonings  and  Illustrations  intended 
to  direct  the  Christian  in  some  of  those  trains  of  thought  which  he  ought 
to  prosecute,  when  looking  forward  to  the  scene  of  his  future  destination, 
by  THOMAS  DICK,  author  of  the  Christian  Philosopher,  &c.  &c. 

HENRY  ON  PRAYER. 

A  Method  for  Prayer,  with  Scripture  expressions,  proper  to  be  used  under 
each  head,  by  MATTHEW  HENRY,  late  minister  of  the  Gospel  at  Chester, 
England;  author  of  a  Commentary  on  the  Bible,  Communicant's  Com- 
panion, &c.  &c.  1  vol. 

JAY'S  DISCOURSES. 
Short  discourses  to  be  read  in  families,  by  WILLIAM  JAY,  2  vols.  18mo. 

JAY'S  PRAYERS. 

Prayers  for  the  use  of  Families  ;  or,  the  Domestic  Minister's  Assistant,  by 
WILLIAM  JAY,  author  of  Sermons,  &c.  1  vol. 


RELIGIOUS  BOOKS.  15 

•  JAY'S  SERMONS. 

Sermons  on  a  Variety  of  Subjects,  by  WM.  JAY.  To  which  is  annexed  an 
Essay  on  Marriage,  by  same  author.  Third  American  from  second  Lon- 
don edition. 

FISHER'S  CATECHISM. 

The  Westminster  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism  explained  by  way  of  ques- 
tion and  answer,  by  several  Ministers  of  the  Gospel.  Third  Philadelphia 
edition,  carefully  compared  with  an  early  and  correct  Scotch  impression. 

CHALMERS'  WORKS. 

The  works  of  Thomas  Chalmers,  D.  D.,  containing  his  Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  Sermons  delivered  on  various  occasions,  1  vol.  8vo. 

BOSTON'S  FOURFOLD  STATE. 

This  work  is  highly  recommended  by  the  learned  and  pious  divine,  the 
Rev.  James  Hervey,  author  of  Meditations  among  the  Tombs,  &c. — he 
speaks  of  it  in  the  following  language : 

"  See  the  work  of  Grace,  arid  procedure  of  Conversion  copiously  displayed 
in  a  valuable  little  work  entitled  '  Human  Nature  in  its  Fourfold  State,  by 
THOS.  BOSTON,'  which,  in  my  opinion,  is  one  of  our  best  books  for  common 
readers.  The  sentences  are  short,  and  the  comparisons  striking ;  the  lan- 
guage is  easy  and  the  doctrine  evangelical ;  the  method  proper ;  the  plan 
comprehensive,  the  manner  searching,  yet  consolatory.  If  another  celebra- 
ted treatise  is  styled  '  The  whole  duty  of  Man,'  I  would  call  this  the  Whole 
of  Man  ;  as  it  comprises  what  he  was  originally,  what  he  is  by  transgres- 
sion, what  he  should  be  through  grace,  and  then  what  he  will  be  in  glory." 

SACRA  PRIVATA, 

Or  the  private  meditations  and  prayers  of  the  Right  Rev.  Thomas  Wilson, 
D.  D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Sodor  and  Man.  To  which  is  added  a  short  intro- 
duction for  the  true  understanding  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

THE  PIOUS  MINSTREL, 

A  collection  of  Sacred  Poetry,  from  modern  authors,  &c.  This  is  one  of  the 
best  selections  from  the  various  British  and  American  poets  that  has  yet 
appeared ;  it  consists  of  short  and  beautiful  pieces  on  a  great  variety  of 
subjects  in  a  small  pocket  volume. 

THE  BOOK  OF  COMMON  PRAYER, 

And  Administration  of  the  Sacraments,  and  other  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
church,  according  to  the  use  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the 


16  CATALOGUE  OF 

United  States  of  America ;  together  with  the  psalter  or  psalms  of  David. 
New  and  beautiful  edition  in  a  great  variety  of  plain  and  fancy  binding. 

CONFESSION  OF  FAITH, 

Or  Constitution  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  United  States  of  Nortli 
America,  containing  the  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Catechisms,  and  the  Direc- 
tions for  the  Worship  of  God,  together  with  the  Plan  of  Government  and 
Discipline  as  ratified  by  the  General  Assembly  at  their  Sessions  in  May, 
1821,  and  amended  in  1833. 

WILSON  ON  SIN.     \ 

A  free  conversation  on  the  unpardonable  sin ;  wherein  the  Blasphemy  against 
the  Holy  Spirit,  Final  Apostacy,  and  the  Sin  unto  Death  are  shown  to 
have  been  originally  distinct.  By  JAMES  P.  WILSON,  late  Pastor  of  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  Philadelphia. 

GASTON'S  COLLECTIONS, 

Or  a  Scripture  Account  of  the  Faith  and  Practice  of  Christians,  consisting  of" 
an  extensive  collection  of  pertinent  texts  of  Scripture,  illustrative  of  the 
various  articles  of  Revealed  Religion,  reduced  into  distinct  sections,  the 
whole  forming  a  complete  Concordance  to  all  the  Articles  of  Faith  and 
Practice  taught  in  the  Holy -Scriptures.     By  HUGH  GASTON,  V.  D.  M. 
In  this  work  the  several  articles  of  Revealed  Religion  are  ranged  under 
distinct  heads  or  Chapters.    The  subject  of  each  chapter  is  only  mentioned 
at  the  beginning  of  it ;    and  the  Scripture  account  of  the  subject  is  after- 
wards given  at  large,  in  a  numerous  collection  of  express  and  pertinent  texts  of 
Scripture,  with  which  the  chapter  is  filled  up.     The  several  different  words 
by  which  any  article  of  religion  is  expressed  in  the  Bible,  are  exhibited 
under  distinct  Sections  ;   and  these  sections  are  filled  up  with  those  texts  in 
the  Bible  where  the  word  occurs  upon  that  subject,  and  introduced  mostly  in 
the  order  in  which  they  lie  in  the  Sacred  Book.    So  that  this  work,  in 
some  measure,  answers  the  ends  of  a  Common-place  Book  and  Concordance, 
upon  the  various  articles  of  religion. 

HENRY'S  COMMENTARY. 

AN  EXPOSITION  OF  THE  OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENT,  wherein  each  chapter  is 
summed  up  in  its  contents,  the  sacred  text  inserted  at  large,  in  distinct 
paragraphs ;  each  paragraph  reduced  to  its  proper  heads ;  the  sense  given, 
and  largely  illustrated,  with  practical  remarks  and  observations :  By 
Matthew  Henry.  A  new  edition ;  edited  by  the  Rev.  George  Burder, 
and  the  Rev.  Joseph  Hughes,  A.  M.  With  the  life  of  the  author,  by  the 
Rev.  Samuel  Palmer.  First  American  edition,  to  which  is  prefixed  a 


RELIGIOUS  BOOKS.  17 

preface,  by  ARCHIBALD  ALEXANDER,  D.  D.,  Professor  of  Theology  in  the 
Seminary  at  Princeton,  N.  J.     Six  large  Super  Royal  Octavo  Volumes. 
This  work  has  received  so  decidedly  the  approbation  of  the  most  judicious 
men  of  the  principal  denominations  of  Christians  in  the  United  States,  that 
the  publishers  deem  it  unnecessary  to  offer  now  the  numerous  recommenda- 
tions they  have  received  from  various  quarters. 

OCTAVO  BIBLE. 

This  new  and  beautiful  edition  of  the  Bible  is  in  a  great  variety  of  plain  and 
elegant  Calf  Gilt,  and  Morocco  Gilt  bindings ;  it  can  be  furnished  with 
the  Old  and  New  Testaments  only,  or  with  the  Apocrypha,  Concordance, 
and  Psalms,  or  with  either  the  Apocrypha,  the  Concordance,  or  the  Psalms 
alone.  It  is,  as  a  Family  Bible,  decidedly  preferable  to  the  old-fashioned 
Quarto  edition ;  being  lighter  and  more  portable,  and  having  at  the  same 
time  a  type  larger  and  more  distinct  than  the  other  editions :  it  contains 
a  handsome  Family  Record,  and  can  be  furnished  with  Plates  or  without, 
as  the  purchaser  may  desire. 

OCTAVO  TESTAMENT. 

Same  type  and  paper  as  the  Bible,  it  is  a  very  desirable  edition  for  those 
whose  sight  is  feeble,  or  for  persons  of  advanced  age ;  as  the  print  is  larger 
than  any  other  Testament  ever  published  in  this  country. 

PEARL  POCKET  BIBLE. 

This  well-known  and  universally  popular  Pocket  Bible  is  bound  in  a  variety 
of  styles,  such  as  Plain  Sheep,  and  Calf,  Turkey  Morocco  Gilt,  Pocket- 
book  form,  &c. 
This  book  owes  its  popularity  to  its  small  size  and  portable  form,  being 

small  enough  to  be  carried  in  even  the  waistcoat  pocket,  at  the  same  time 

its  print  is  perfectly  distinct.     It  is  the  smallest  bible  printed  either  in 

America  or  England. 

THE  OXFORD  BIBLE,  18mo. 

An  edition  of  this  truly  beautiful  Bible  is  just  issued  from  the  press.  In 
England  it  has  long  been  the  most  popular  Bible,  and  has  had  a  more 
extensive  sale  than  any  other  edition.  It  takes  its  name  from  having  been 
printed  at  the  great  Clarendon  Press,  at  Oxford,  by  an  express  order  from 
the  King  of  England,  in  a  peculiarly  distinct  type,  and  after  the  most 
careful  revisions.  The  print  being  larger  than  any  other  small  edition, 
it  is  particularly  suited  to  the  aged,  and  the  infirm  of  sight.  Another 
recommendation  is  its  size,  being  sufficiently  small  to  be  carried  in  the 
pocket  without  the  least  inconvenience.  The  clergymen  of  Philadelphia, 
and  those  of  other  places,  unite  in  recommending  it  as  a  pew  Bible,  &c. 
It  is  also  bound  in  a  variety  of  plain  and  elegantly  gilt  bindings. 

2" 


18  CATALOGUE  OF  RELIGIOUS  BOOKS. 

MILNER'S  CHURCH  HISTORY,  2  vole.  8vo. 

The  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  by  the  late  Rev.  JOSEPH  MILNER,  A.  M., 
with  additions  and  corrections  by  the  late  Rev.  ISAAC  MILNER,  D.  D. 
F.  R.  S.  Dean  of  Carlisle,  and  President  of  Queen's  College,  Cambridge. 

It  is  thus  spoken  of  by  a  Clergyman  of  Philadelphia : — "  I  have  just  seen 
the  new  edition  of  "  Milner's  Church  History,"  in  2  vols.  8vo.,  issued  by 
Hogan  &  Thompson  of  this  city,  and  am  glad  to  find  this  very  valuable 
work  in  a  form  at  once  convenient  and  economical.  It  is  a  work  that  in- 
comparably is  superior  to  any  one  single  history  of  the  church  that  has  ye 
been  written,  clear  and  strong  in  style,  evangelical  in  doctrine,  faithful  and 
impartial  in  statement,  and  fervent  in  piety.  Dr.  Milner  will  always  be 
read  with  profit  and  delight  by  Christian  people,  and  I  take  the  opportunity 
of  the  above-mentioned  republication  of  this  work  (which  is  superior  in  exe- 
cution and  cheapness  to  any  edition  that  I  have  seen,)  to  recommend  it  to 
your  readers  as  one  that  should  find  a  place  in  every  family." 

JONES'  CHURCH  HISTORY,    1  vol.  8vo. 

The  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  from  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  the  XVIII. 
Century,  including  the  very  interesting  account  of  the  Waldenses  and 
Albigenses.  By  WILLIAM  JONES. 


19 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


Artist's  Manual.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Art  of  Flower  Painting.  8vo. 
American  Annual  Register.  5  vols.  8vo. 
American    State    Papers,     (Waite's,)    12 

vols.  8vo. 

American  Constitutions.  18mo. 
Anatomy  of  Drunkenness,  (McNish.)  18mo. 
Adventures  of  a  Young  Rifleman.  12mo. 
Atlantic  Souvenir,  1826  to  1832.  18mo. 
Annals  of  the  Peninsular  Campaigns,  by 

author   of  "  Cyril   Thornton."   3  voJs. 

12mo.  maps,  &c. 
American  Ornithology,  by  Wilson.  3  vols. 

8vo.  and  4to.  coloured  plates. 
American  Ornithology,  by  C.  Buonaparte. 

4  vols.  royal  4to. 
Abercrombie  on  the  Intellectual  Powers. 

18mo. 

Abercrombie's  Philosophy  of  Moral  Feel- 
ings. 18mo. 

Anquetil's  Universal  History.  9  vols.  8vo. 
Abbot's  Letters  from  Cuba   8vo. 
Atlantis,  by  the  author  of  "  Guy  Rivers." 

&vo. 
Arago,  M.,  on  Comets,  translated  by  Fa- 

rar.  12im. 
Annals  of  Tryon  County,  or  the  Border 

Warfare  of  New  York.  8vo. 
Annual   Retrospect  of   Public  Affairs.    2 

vols.  12rno. 
Aiken's,  Dr.,  Select  Works  of  the  British 

Poets.  8vo. 

Annals  of  Yale  College,  from  its  founda- 
tion to  1831.  8vo. 

Aurora  Borealis,  or  Flashes  of  Wit.  18mo. 
Burke's,  E.,  Works,  complete  in  3  vols. 

small  8vo. 

Beattie's  Minstrel.  18mo. 
Brown's  Philosophy.  2  vols.  8vo. 
British  Spy,  by  Wirt.  18ino. 
Baker's  Livy.    6  vols.  8vo. 
Byron's  Poetical  and  Prose  works,  1  vol. 

8vo. 

Byron's  Poetical  Works.  1  vol.  8vo. 
Byron's  Poetical  Works.  8  vols.  32mo. 
Bewick's  Birds.  8vo. 
Buchanan's  History  of  tha  Indians.  2  vols. 

12mo. 

Belshazzar,  by  Millman.  ISino. 
Blair's  Lectures.  &vo. 
Blair's  Lectures,  abridged.  ]8mo. 
Buck's  Theological  Dictionary.  8vo. 
Buck  on  Experience.  12mo. 
Brougham's,   Chancellor,  Speech   on   the 

Present  State  of  the  Laws.  8vo. 
Bausset's  Anecdotes  of  Napoleon.  8vo. 
Brown's  History  of  Missions.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Butterworth's  Concordance.  4to. 
Butler's  Analogy.  12tno. 
Benedict  OH  the  Baptists.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Brown's  Body  of  Divinity. 


Bennett's  Lelters.  18mo. 

Burn's  Poems.  2  vols.  18mo. 

Burn's  Poems.  1  vol.  8vo. 

Botta's  History  of  Italy.  8vo. 

Botta's  America,  by  Otis.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Baylie'*  History  of  Plymouth.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Bancroft  on  Colours.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Bayard  on  the  Constitution.  12mo. 

Bridgewater  Treatises.  12mo. 
Chalmers  on  Man. 
Kidd  on  Man. 
Whewell's  Mechanics. 
Bell  on  the  Hand. 

Bal.bage's,  C.  Economy  of  Machinery, 
J2mo. 

Baillie's,  Joanna,  Complete  Works.  1  vol. 
8vo. 

Book  of  the  Seasons,  by  Howitt.  12mo. 

Burns',  John,  Principles  of  Christian  Phi- 
losophy. )2mo. 

Butler's  Ancient  Geography.  8vo. 

Butler's  Atlas  to  the  Ancient  Geography. 
8vo. 

Brewster's,  Dr.,  Edinburgh  Encyclopedia, 
complete  in  18  vols.  4to. 

Bancroft's,  George,  History  of  the  United 
States.  8vo. 

Benthaiu's,  Jeremy,  Principles  of  Legisla- 
tion. 8vo. 

Blake's,  J.  L.,  Encyclopedia  of  Useful 
Knowledge  and  General  Literature. 
8vo. 

Brackenridge's,  H.  M.,  Recollections  of  the 
West.  12mo. 

Barber's  Grammar  of  Elocution.  12mo. 

Blue  Book,  The.  12mo. 

Bush's,  G.,  Treatise  on  the  Millennium. 
12mo. 

British  Drama,  The,  a  collection  of  Tra- 
gedies, Comedies,  Operas,  and  Farces.  2 
Vols.  8vo. 

Bonaparte's  Voyage  to  St.  Helena,  by  Sir 
G.  Cockburn.  12mo. 

Belknap's,  Jeremy,  History  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, new  edition.  1  vol.  8vo. 

Brown's,  J.  D.,  Sylvia  Americana.  8vo. 

Bell.  John,  on  Buths  and  Mineral  waters. 
12mo. 

Bernard's  Retrospections  of  the  Stage.  2 
vols.  12mo. 

Buck's  Religious  Anecdotes.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Button's  Natural  History,  plates.  4  vols. 
18mo. 

Cowper's  Poems.  3  vols.  18mo. 

Cowper  and  Thompson's  Poetical  Works. 
8vo. 

Cowper's  Task.  18mo. 

Citizen  of  the  World.  2  vols.  18mo. 

Campbell's  Rhetoric.  8vo. 

Chesterfield's  Letters.  3  vols.  18mo. 

Chesterfield's  Letters.  1  vol.  8vo. 


20 


CATALOGUE  OF 


Curiosities  of  Literature,  (D'Israeli.)  1st 
aeries.  3  vols.  12mo. 

Curiosities  of  Literature,  (D'Israeli.)  2d 
series.  2  vols.  J2mo. 

Chapman's  Tables  of  Interest,  4to. 

Cicero  on  Old  Age.  8vo. 

Clarendon's  History  of  the  Rebellion.  6 
vols.  8vo. 

Coleridge,  Shelly,  and  Keat's  Poetical 
Works.  8vo. 

Chalmers'  Works.  3  vols.  12mo. 

Chalmers'  Discourses.  12mo. 

Chalmers'  Political  Economy.    12mo. 

Campbell  on  the  Gospels.  4  vols.  8vo. 

Carey's,  M  ,  Olive  Branch.  8vo. 

Carey's,  M.,  Vindiciae  Hibernicte.  8vo. 

Carey's,  M.,  Political  Economy.  8vo. 

Carey's,  M..  Miscellanies.  8vo. 

Christmas  Tales.  13mo. 

Conversations  with  Lord  Byron  on  Reli- 
gion. 12mo. 

Christian  Year,  (Kebble)  12ma 

Coleridge's,  H.  N.,  Introduction  to  the 
Study  of  the  Greek  Classics.  12rno. 

Crabbe's  English  Synonymes  8vo. 

Cobbett's,  Wm.,  Paper  versus  Gold.   18mo. 

Cobbett's,  Wm.,  English  Grammar.    I8mo. 

Cobbett's,  Wm.,  French  Grammar,    18mo. 

Cobbett's,  Wm.,  Cottage  Economy,  18mo. 

Cobbett's,  William,  History  of  the  Re- 
formation, l.-'ino. 

Cobbett's,  William,  Advice  to  Young 
Men.  ISino. 

Crabbe's,  George,  Dictionary  of  General 
Knowledge.  12mo. 

Cooper's,  J.  P.,  Travelling  Bachelor.  2  vols. 
8vo.  . 

Cooper's,  Judge,  Political  Economy.  8vo. 

Chatham,  Burke,  and  Erskine's  celebrated 
Speeches.  8vo. 

Combe's,  George,  Lectures  on  Education. 
12mo. 

Cooper's,  J.  F.,  Letters  to  his  Countrymen. 
8vo. 

Child  at  Home,  The,  by  Abbott.  12mo. 

Chambers'  History  of  the  Rebellion  in 
Scotland.  12mo. 

Colman's,  George,  Broad  Grins.  18mo. 

Cushing's,  C.,  Reminiscences  of  Spain.  2 
vols.  8vo. 

Christ  our  Example,  by  Caroline  Fry. 
ISmo. 

Cleaveland's,  A.  B.,  Studies  in  Poetry  and 
Prose.  12mo. 

Calmet's  Dictionary  of  the  Holy  Bible,  in 
1  vol.  containing  1003  pages.  8vo. 

Casper  Hauser,  Account  of.  12mo. 

Campbell's,  T.,  Complete  Poetical  Works. 
I8mo. 

Cook's  Own  Book,  being  a  Culinary  Ency- 
clopedia. 12mo. 

Clerk's  Magazine,  containing  the  most 
useful  Forms  which  occur  in  Business. 
12mo. 

Caricature  Scrap  Book,  consisting  of  Ori- 
ginal and  Humorous  Designs. 
Coleridge's,  8.  T.,  Friend.  8vo. 
Coleridge's,  S.  T.,  Aids  to  Reflection.  8vo. 
Collections  of  the  Maine  Historical  So- 
ciety. 8vo. 

Crowe's,  E.  E..  History  of  France.  3  vols 
12mo. 


ousin's  introduction  to   the  History  of 

Philosophy.  8vo. 

'hanning's,  W.  E.,  Discourses,  Reviews, 
and  Miscellanies.  8vo. 
Manning's,  W.  E.,  Discourses,  Reviews, 

and  Miscellanies,  2d  series.  12mo. 
linstock's  Natural  Philosophy.  12mo. 
'ollingwood's,  Lord,  Correspondence.  8vo. 
Dick's  Christian  Philosopher.  12mo. 
Dick's  Philosophy  of  a  Future  State.  12mo. 
Dick  on  Religion.  12mo. 
Dick  on  Diffusion  of  Knowledge.  18mo. 
Domestic  Encyclopedia,  (Willich's.)  3  vols. 

8vo. 

Debates  in  the  Virginia  Convention.  8vo. 
Debates  in  the  New  York  Convention.  8vo. 
Debates  in  Congress,  (Elliott's.)  4  vols. 

8vo. 

Don  Juan.  2  vols.  12mo. 
Dryden's  Virgil.  2  vols.  18mo. 
Dallas'  Letters  of  Lord  Byron.  12mo. 
Dunlop's  History  of  Roman  Literature.  2 

vols.  8vo. 

Dibdin's  Reminiscences.  8vo. 
Darby's  General  Gazetteer.  8vo. 
Darby  and  Dwight's  American  Gazetteer, 

8vo. 

Darby's  View  of  the  United  States.  18mo. 
Domestic  Cookery.  18mo. 
Diplomacy  of  the  United  States,  (Lyman's.) 

2  vols.  8vo. 

Death-bed  Scenes,  (Warton's.)  8vo. 
Dwight's  Theology.  4  vols.  8vo. 
Dwight's  Decisions.  12mo. 
Duchess  de  Berri  in  La  Vendee.  J8mo. 
Donnegan's  Greek  and  English  Lexicon. 

8vo. 
Donnegan's  Greek  and  English  Lexicon. 

large  18mo. 
Dunlap's  History  of  the  American  Stage. 

8vo. 

Downing's,  Jack,  Letters  to  Dwight.  12mo. 
Dwight's,  Thomas,  History  of  the  Hartford 

Convention.  8vo. 
D'Haussez's,  Baron,  Great  Britain.  2  vols. 

12mo. 

District,  The,  School.  12mo. 
Davenport's,  Bishop,  New  Gazetteer  of  the 

United  States.  8vo. 

Depping's  Evening  Entertainments.  12mo. 
Dana's,  R.  H.,  Poems  and  Prose  Writings. 

8vo. 

Daughter's  Own  Book.  18mo. 
Dermot  Mac  Murrough,  a  poem,  by  J.  Q. 

Adams.  8vo. 

Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  by  Jared  Sparks,  in  12 

vols.  8vo. 

Edinburgh  Review,  complete.  8vo. 
Endless  Amusement.  18mo. 
Everett,  A.,  on  Population.  8vo. 
Everett's,  A.,  America.  8vo. 
Everett's,  A.,  Europe.  8vo. 
Edge  worth's  Works,  complete.  13  vols.Svo. 
Eber's  History  of  the  King's  Theatre.  12mo. 
Elegant  Extracts.  12  vols.  8vo. 
Edward's  West  India.  4  vols.  8vo.  and 

atlas. 
ENCYCLOPEDIA  AMERICANA,  edited  by  Dr. 

Leiber,  complete  in  13  vols.  8vo. 
England  and  the  English,  by  Bulwer.  2 

vols.  12mo. 


MISCELLANEOUS  HOOKS. 


21 


England  and  America,  a  comparison  of  the 
Social  and  Political  State  of  both  Na- 
tiona.  8vo. 

Essays  on  the  Pursuit  of  Truth.  12mo. 

Essays  on  the  Formation  of  Opinion.  12mo. 

Franklin's,  Dr  ,  Works,  6  vols.  8vo. 

Franklin's,  Dr.,  Essays.  2  vols.  18mo. 

Franklin,  Dr.,  Life  of.  12mo. 

Franklin's.  Dr.,  Familiar  Letters.  ]2mo. 

Federalist,  The.  i-.'mo. 

Francis'  Horace.  2  vols.  18mo. 

Faber  on  the  Prophecies.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Flint's  Geography.  8vo. 

Flint's  Valley  of  the  Mississippi.  8vo. 

Flavel's  Works.  8  vols.  8vo. 

Fielding's,  Henry,  Works.  2  vols  8vo. 

Family  Library,  Harpers.  76  vols. 

Family  at  Home,  by  Abbott.  12rno. 

Florist's  Manual,  By  Bourne.  8vo. 

Fanaticism.  12mo. 

Fuller's,  Rev.  A.,  Complete  Works.  2  vols. 
8vo. 

Fiddler's,  Isaac,  Observations  on  Profes- 
sions, Literature,  and  Manners,  in  the 
United  States.  12mo. 

Family  Cabinet  Atlas.  12mo. 

Flint's  Lecture*  on  Natural  History,  12mo. 

Follen's  German  Grammar.  12mo. 

Flora's  Dictionary,  by  a  Lady.  4to. 

Fletcher's  History  of  Poland.  18mo. 

Faber,  George,  on  the  Difficulties  of  Infi- 
delity. 12mo. 

Goldsmith's,  Oliver,  Works.  8vo. 

Goldsmith's,  Oliver,  Animated  Nature.  4 
vols.  8vo. 

Goldsmith's,  Oliver,  Essaya,  18mo. 

Goldsmith's,  Oliver,  Rome.  12mo. 

Goldsmith's,  Oliver,  Greece.  1-ino. 

Gibbon's  Rome.  4  vols.  8vo. 

Grimshaw's,  William,  History  of  Napo- 
leon. 12mo. 

Grimshaw's,  William,  History  of  France. 
12mo. 

Grimshaw's,  William,  History  of  the 
United  States.  12mo. 

Godman's,  J.  D.,  Natural  History.  3  vols. 
8vo. 

Godman's,  J.  D.,  Addresses.  8vo. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  on  Currency  and  Bank- 
ing. 8vo. 

Gleanings  in  Natural  History,  by  Jesse. 
18mo. 

Good's,  John  M.,  Book  of  Nature.  8vo. 

Grattan's,  T.  C.,  History  of  the  Nether- 
lands. 12mo. 

Graglia's,  Italian  and  English  Dictionary. 
18mo. 

Goddard's,  T.  H.,  History  of  Banks.  8vo. 

Gouge,  W.  M.,  History  of  Paper  Money 
and  Banking  in  the  United  States.  12mo. 

German  Dramas,  from  Schiller  and  Goethe, 
for  the  use  of  persons  learning  the  Ger- 
man. 12mo. 

Gould's,  Miss  H.  F.,  Poems,  18mo. 

Grove's  Greek  and  English  Lexicon.  8vo. 

Gordon's,  T.  F.,  History  of  America.  2  vols. 
12mo. 

Geographical  Present,  The,  being  a  De- 
scription of  the  Principal  Countries  of 
the  World.  12mo. 

Gordon's,  T.  F.,  History  of  Pennsylvania. 
8vo. 


Howe's,  Dr.,  History  of  the  Greek  Revolu- 
tion. 8vo. 

Heber's,  Bishop,  Poems.  18mo. 

Hume,  Smollett,  and  Bissett's  England.  9 
vols.  8vo. 

Homilies  of  the  Church  of  England.  8vo. 

Hume.  Smollett,  and  Miller's  England.  4 
vols.  8vo. 

Hallam's,  H.,  History  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

2  vols.  8vo. 

Hallam's,    H.,  Constitutional   History.   3 

vols.  8vo. 
Home's  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the 

Scriptures.  4  vols.  8vo. 
Hall's,  Rev.  Robert,  Works,  by  O.Gregory. 

3  vols.  8vo. 
Heeren's  Greece.  8vo. 

Hall's,  James,  Sketches  of  History,  Life 
and  Manners  in  the  West.  2  vols.  l-Jmu. 

Howitt's  History  of  Priestcraft.  12mo. 

Humorist's  Own  Book.  24mo. 

History  of  the  Florentine  Republic,  by  L.. 
Daponte.  2  vols. 

Hibbert  and  Buist's  American  Flower 
Garden  Directory.  8vo. 

History  of  Switzerland,  by  Grattan.  12mo. 

History  of  Spain  and  Portugal.  5  vol». 
12mo. 

Hordynski's  History  of  the  Polish  Revolu- 
tion. 8vo. 

History  of  Ancient  and  Modern  Greece, 
edited  by  J.  Frost.  8vo. 

Howitt's,  William,  Book  of  the  Seasons. 
12mo. 

Hemans,  Heber,  and  Pollock's  Poetical 
Works.  8vo. 

Horse,  The,  in  all  his  Varieties  and  Uses, 
by  Lawrence.  12tno. 

Haliburton's  Historical  and  Descriptive 
Account  of  Nova  Scotia.  8vo. 

Hemans',  Mrs.,  Poetical  Works.  2  vols.  8vo 

Holmes',  A.,  Annals  of  America.  2 vols 
8vo. 

Journey  round  my  Room.  12mo. 

Johnson's,  Dr.,  Works.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Johnson's,  Dr.,  Dictionary.  2  vols.  4to. 

Johnson's,  Dr.,  Dictionary.  4  vols.  8vo. 

Johnson  and  Walker's  Dictionary,  by 
Todd.  Pvo. 

Internal  Navigation  of  the  United  State?. 

John  Bull  in  America,  by  Paulding. 
]2mo. 

Jefferson's.  Thomas,  Parliamentary  Ma- 
nual. 12mo. 

Jefferson's,  Thomas,  Notes  on  Virginia 
12mo. 

Irvi rig's,  E.,  Orations.  8vo. 

Irvings,  W.,  Knickerbocker's  New  York. 
2  vols.  ]2mo. 

Irvine's,  W.,  Sketch  Book.  2  vols.  12mo. 

Irving's,  W.,  Bracebridge  Hail.  2vols. 
l'-mo. 

Irving's,  W.,  Tales  of  a  Traveller.  2  vols. 
12mo. 

Irving's,  W.,  Conquest  of  Grenada.  2  vols 
12mo. 

Irving's,  W.,  Alhambra.  2  vols.  12mo. 

Irving's,  W.,  Columbus.  2  vols.  12mo. 

Irving's  W.,  Companions  of  Columbus.  2 
vols.  12mo. 

Jahn's  History  of  the  Hebrew  Common- 
wealth. 8vo. 


22 


CATALOGUE  OF 


Jahn's  Gymnastics.  8vo. 

Journal  of  a  Naturalist.  12mo. 

Iliad  of  Homer,  from  the  text  of  Wolfe, 

with  illustrations,  by  Flaxman.  8vo. 
Jameson's,  Mrs.,  Characteristics  of  Wo- 
men, 12mo. 
Jameson's,  Mrs.,  Beauties  of  the  Court  of 

Charles  II.  8vo. 
Jameson's,  Mrs.,  Diary  of  an    Ennuyee. 

18mo. 
Jameson's,  Mrs.,  Visits  and  Sketches  at 

Home  and  Abroad.  2  vols.  12mo. 
Jameson's,  Mrs.,  Memoirs  of  the  Loves  of 

the  Poets.  2  vols.  18mo. 
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BIOGRAPHY. 


25 


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Lile  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  by  Northcote. 

Svo. 

Life  of  Paul  Jones.  Svo. 
Life  of  Philip  II.  and  III.,  by  Watson.  2 

vols.  Svo. 
Life    and   Writings   of  Washington,  by 

Jareri  Sparks,  fivo. 
Life  of  Patrick  Henry,  by  Wirt.  Svo. 
Life  of  Arthur  Lee.  2  vols.  Svo. 
Life  of  Jackson  by  Major  Downing.  12mo. 


CATALOGUE  OF 


Life  ofCowper.  by  Thomas  Taylor.  12mo. 
Life  of  Grant  Thorburn,  by  himself.  12mo. 
Life  and  Writings  of  Thomas  Jefforson.  4 

vols.  8vo. 

Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  J2mo. 
Life  and  Times  of  Milton,  by  J.  Ivimey. 

12mo. 
Life  of  William  Roscoe,  by  his  Son.  2  vols. 

12mo. 

Life  of  Stephen  Girard,  by  Stephen  Simp- 
son. 12mo. 
Lives  of  the  Players,  by  John  Gait.  2  vols. 

12mo. 
Life   of  Daniel  Webster,  by  Samuel   L. 

Knapp.  12mo. 

Life  of  Henry  Clay,  by  Premiss.  12mo. 
Life,  Private,  of  Napoleon,  by  Bourrienne. 

8vo. 

Life  of  Ledyard,  by  Jared  Sparks.  12mo. 
Life  of  Burns,  by  Lockhart.  18mo. 
Life  of  Mary  of  Scotland,  by  H.  G.  Bell.  2 

vols.  18mo. 
Life  of  Reginald  Heber,  by  his  Widow.  2 

vols.  8vo. 

Life  of  Elbridjre  Gerry.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Life  and  Writings  of  Robert  C.  Sands.  2 

vols.  8vo. 
Life  of  Colonel  David  Crockett,  by  himself. 

]2mo. 

Life  of  Schiller.  12mo. 
Life  of  Belisarius,  by  Lord  Mahon.  12mo. 
Life  of  Wickliffe,  by  Le  Bas.  18mo. 
Life  of  Lord  Edward  Fitzgerald,  by  T. 

Moore.  2  vols.  12mo. 
Lif&of  Washington,  by  Judge  Marshall.  2 

vols.  8vo.  and  atlas. 
Life  of  W.  Livingston,  by  T.  SeSgwick 

8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Anne  Boleyn,  by  Miss  Benger. 

2  voH.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Elizabeth,  by  Miss  Aiken.  2 

vols.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  James  I.,  by  Miss  Aiken.  2 

vols.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Charles  I.,  by  Miss  Aiken.  2 

vols.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Sir  Jonah  Barrington.  2  vols. 

I2mo. 
Memoirs  of  Marie  Antoinette,  by  Madame 

Campan.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Sebastian  Cabot.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Dray  ton.  2  vols.  8vo. 


Memoirs  of  R.  H.  Lee.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Memoirs  of  A.  Lee.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Memoirs  of  Eminent  Female  Sovereigns 

by  Mrs.  Jameson.  2  vols.  18mo. 
Memoirs  of  the  Beauties  of  the  Court  of 

Charles  II.,  by  Mrs.  Jameson.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Goethe.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Garrick.  2  vols.  12mo. 
Memoirs  of  Vidocq.  2  vols.  12mo. 
Memoirs  of  Captain  Rock,  by  T.  Moore. 

18mo. 

Memoirs  of  Fouche.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  R  L.  Edge  worth.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  by  Mrs. 

Thompson.  12mo. 

Memoirs,  Military,  of  the  Duke  of  Wel- 
lington. 2  vols.  I2mo. 
Memoirs  of  the  Duchess  d' Abrawtes.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  the  Historical  Society.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Cardinal  de  Retz.  3  vols. 
Memoirs  of  Sully    5  vols  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  W.  Pitt,  by  Tomlinson.  2  vols. 

8vo. 
Memoirs   of  Thomas   Eddy,    by  Samuel 

Knapp.  8vo. 

Memoirs  of  Roger  Williams.  72mo. 
Memoirs  pf  Daniel  Boon.  18mo. 
Memoirs  of  Spurzheim,   by  Carmicbael. 

12mo. 
Memoirs  of  Marshall  Ney,  by  his  Family. 

8vo. 
Memoirs  of  the  Rev.  John  Summerfield. 

12mo. 

Memoirs  of  Silvio  Pellico.  12mo. 
Memoirs  of  Baron  Cuvier,  by  Mrs.  Lee. 

12mo. 
Memoirs  of  Dr.  Burney,  by  his  daughter. 

8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Lafayette,  by  Sarrans.  2  vols. 

12mo. 

Memoirs  of  Felix  Neff.  12mo. 
Memoirs  of  Eminent  Biitish  Statesmen. 

12mo. 

Memoirs  of  Lavalett.e.  18mo. 
Memoirs  of  Commodore  Barney.  8vo. 
Memoirs  of  Henry  Martyn.  12mo. 
Memoirs    of    Thomas     Addis    Emmett. 

18mo. 
Remains  of  the  Rev.   E.   D.  Griffin,   by 

Francis  Griffin.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Remains  of  the  late  Henry  Neele.  8vo. 


ARTS  AND  SCIENCE. 


Arnot's  Elements  of  Physics.  2yo1s.  Svo. 

Allan's,  T.,  Science  of  Mechanics,  as  ap- 
plied to  the  present  improvements  in 
the  useful  Arts  8vo. 

Bakewell's  Geology,  by  Silliman,  2d  edi- 
tiotn.  8vo. 

Boirrchalet's  Treatise  on  Mechanics,  by 
Courtenav.  8vo. 


Barton's  Flora  of  North  America,  coloured 
plates.  3  vols.  4to. 

Brnnton's  Treatise  on  Mechanics,  by  Ren- 
wick.  12mo.  • 

Bigelow's  Plants  of  Boston.  8vo. 

Bourdon's  Algebra,  by  Professor  Farar.  8vo. 

Bigelow's,  Dr.,  Elements  of  Technology. 
8vo. 


SCIENTIFIC  BOOKS. 


27 


Benjamin's,  A.,  Practice  of  Architecture. 

4to. 

Benjamin's,  A.,  Practical  Builder.  4to. 
Benjamin's,  A.,  Carpenter's  Guide.  4to. 
Brewster's,   Sir    I)..  Treatise  on  Optics, 
with  an  Appendix,  by  A.    D.    Bache. 
12mo. 

Bakewell's,  F.  C.,  Philosophical  Conversa- 
tions.  J-II10. 
Borden's  Elements  of  Algebra.  8vo. 

Conversations  on  Chemistry.  12mo. 

Carpenter's  Guide.  (Nicholson's.)  4to. 

Cuvier's,  Baron,  Discourses  on  the  Revolu- 
tion of  the  Globe.  12mp. 

Cambridge's  Mathematics,  by  Professor 
Farar.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Courtenay's,  E.  II.,  Treatise  on  Mechanics. 
8vp. 

Cuvier's  Animal  Kingdom,  translated  by 
R.  M.  McMurtrie,  in  4  vols.  8vo.,  plates. 

Conversations  on  Botany,  with  notes,  &c. 
by  Blake.  12mo. 

De  la  Beeche's  Geological  Manual.  8vo. 

Davies',  C.,  Descriptive  Geometry.  8vo. 

Davies',  C.,  Shades  and  Shadows.  8vo. 

Davies',  C.,  Surveying.  8vo. 

Description  of  the  Rail  Road,  from  Liver- 
pool to  Manchester,  translated  by  J.  C. 
Stocker.  18mo. 

Enfield's  Philosophy.  4to. 

Eaton's,  A.,  Manual  of  Botany.  12mo. 

Eaton's  Geology. 

Eaton's  Theological  Text  Book.  8vo. 

Evans',  Oliver,  Millwright  and  Miller's 
Guide.  8vo. 

Electricity  and  Magnetism,  by  Professor 
Farar.  8vo. 

Ruler's  Algebra,  by  Professor  Farar.  8vo. 

Essays  on  American  Silk,  with  directions 
for  raising  Silk  Worms.  12mo. 

Farar's,  Professor,  Astronomy.  8vo. 

Fischpr's  Elements  of  Natural  Philosophy, 
by  Professor  Farar.  8vo. 

Gregory's  Dictionary  of  the  Arts  and  Sci- 
ences. 3  vols.  4to. 

Gibson's  Surveying,  by  Ryan.  8vo. 

Grund's,  F.,  Treatise  on  Geometry.  12mo. 

Gregory's,  O.,  Mathematics  for  Practical 
Men.  8vo.  2d  edition,  with  240  Cuts  and 
plates. 

Comstock's  Outlines  of  Geoloey.  12mo. 

Comstock's  Mineralogy.  12mo. 

Guy's  Elements  of  Astronomy,  and  an 
Abridgment  of  Keith  on  the  Globes. 
12m  o. 

Green's,  Jacob,  Text  Book  of  Chemical 
Science.  8vo. 

Hitchcock's,  Professor,  Reports  on  Geolo- 
gy, Mineralogy,  Botany,  &c.,  of  Massa- 
chusetts. 1  vol.  8vo.  and  atlas. 

Herschel's,  Sir  J.  F.  W.,  Treatise  on  Astro- 
nomy. 12mo. 

Herschell's,  Sir  J.  F.  W.,  Preliminary  Dis- 
course on  the  Study  of  Natural  Philoso- 
phy. 12mo. 

Hazzlf  r's  Logarithmic  and  Trigonometric 
Tables.  12mo. 

Kater  and  Lardner's  Treatise  on  Mecha- 
nics. I  Jinn. 

Lardner,  Dr.  on  the  Steam  Engine.  12mo. 

Lucas' Complete  Drawing  Book,  long  folio. 

Lacroix's  Algebra,  by  Professor  Farar.  8vo. 


Lacroix's  and  Euler's  Algebra,  by  Profes- 
sor Farar.  8vo. 

Laplace's  Mechanique  Celeste,  by  Dr. 
Bowditch.  4to. 

Legendre's  Geometry,  by  Farar.  8vo. 

Lamarck's  Genera  of  Shells,  translated  by 
Dubois.  12mo. 

Lindley's.  John,  Introduction  to  the  Sys- 
tem of  Botany.  8vo. 

Lincoln's,  Mrs.,  Familiar  Lectures  on  Bo- 
tany. 12mo. 

Lincoln's,  Mrs.,  Dictionary  of  Chemistry, 
12mo. 

Lessons  on  Shells.  18mo. 

Mechanics,  by  Farar.  8vo. 

Morse's,  E.,  Manual  of  Mineralogy  and 
Geology.  12mo. 

Manual  of  the  Practical  Naturalist,  or  Di- 
rections fur  collecting,  preparing,  and 
preserving  Subjects  in  Natural  History. 
12mo. 

Nuttal's  Botany.  12mo. 

Nicholson's  Operative  Mechanic.  2  vols. 
8vo. 

Optics,  Treatise  on,  by  Professor  Farar. 
8vo. 

Prout,  Wm.,  on  Chemistry,  Meteorology, 

&.C.   l-Jlllii. 

Reports  on  Locomotive  and  Fived  Engines, 
by  Stephenson  and  Locke.  8vo. 

Reid  on  Clock  and  Watch  making.  8vo. 

Renwick,  Professor,  Treatise  on  Mecha- 
nics. 8vo. 

Renwick,  Professor,  Treatise  on  Steam. 
8vo. 

Robinson's  Catalogue  of  Minerals.  8vo. 

Strickland's,  W.,  Report  on  Rail  Roads  and 
Canals,  &c.  long  folio. 

Sganzin's  Engineering,  translated.  8vo. 

Spurzheim's,  G.,  Outline  of  Phrenology. 
12mo. 

Spurzheim's,  G.,  Phrenological  Catechism. 
12mo. 

Spurzheim's,  G.,  Phrenology.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Spurzheim's,  G.,  Natural  Laws  of  Man. 

Spurzheim's,  G.,  Physiognomy.  8vo.  plates. 

Shephard's,  C.  M.,  Treatise  on  Mineralo- 
gy. 12mo. 

Shaw's,  Edward,  Civil  Architecture,  or  a 
complete  Theoretical  and  Practical  Sys- 
tem of  Building.  4lo. 

Trigonometry,  Treatise  on,  by  Farar.  8vo. 

Topography,  Treatise  on,  by  Farar.  8vo. 

Treatist!  on  the  Manufacture  of  Porcelain 
and  Glass.  12mo. 

Tingrey's  Painter  and  Colourman's  Guide. 
12mo. 

Wood's,  N.,  Treatise  on  Rail  Roads.  8vo. 

Williams'  Astronomy.  12tno. 

Whewell's  Astronomy  and  General  Phy- 
sics, with  a  reference  to  Natural  Theo- 
logy. I2mo. 

Walsh's,  I.  R..  Familiar  Lessons  in  Mine- 
ralogy and  Geology.  2  vols.  12mo. 

Young's,  J.  R.,  Elements  of  Mechanics. 
8vo. 

Young's,  J.  R.,  Trigonometry.  8vo. 

Young's,  J.  R.,  Algebra.  Svo. 

Young's,  J.  R.,  Integral  Calculus. 

Young's,  J.  R.,  Analytical  Geometry. 

Young's,  J.  R.,  Differential  Calculus.  Svo. 

Young's,  J.  R.,  Elements  of  Geometry. 


CATALOG  I)  E  OF 


WORKS  OF  FICTION. 


Atlantic  Club  Book,  2  vols. 

Ayesha  by  Morier.  2  vols. 

Atlantic  Tales,  by  Miss  Leslie.  18mo. 

Aruiigzebe,  a  Tale  of  Alrachid.  2  vols. 

Aristocrat,  The.  2  vols. 

Asmodeus  at  Large,  hy  Bulwer.  12mo. 

Alice  Paulet,  a  Sequel  of  Syclenham.  2  vols. 

Abbess,  The,  by  Mrs.  Trollope.  2  vols. 

Adventures  of  a  Younger  Son,  by  Trelaw- 

ney.  2  vols. 
\lli. -ii libra,  by  W.  Irving.  12mo. 

Arlington,  by  the  Author  of  Granby.  2  vols. 

American   Girls'  Book,   by  Miss    Leslie. 
18mo. 

Anastasius.  2  vols. 

Affecting  Scenes  from  the  Diary  of  a  Phy- 
sician. 2  vols. 

Adventures  of  a  King's  Page.  2  vols. 

Bernardo  del  Carpio,  12mo. 

Book  of  Beauty,  by  L.  E.  L.  I2mo. 

Buccaneer,  The,  by  Mrs.  S.  C.  Hall.  2  vols. 

Bravo,  The,  2  vols. 

Bertha's  Visit.  2  vols. 

Book  of  the  Boudoir,  by  Lady  Morgan.  2 
vols. 

Beatrice,  by  Mrs.  Hofland.  2  vols. 

Bulwer's  Novels,  complete  in  11  vols.  12mo. 

Cooper's  Novels  and  Tales,  complete  in  24 
vols.  I2mo. 

Canterbury  Tales,  by  Misses  Lee.  2  vols. 

Canterbury  Tales,  by  Misses  Lee,  2d  se- 
ries. 2  vols. 

Crayon  Sketches,  by  Fay.  2  vols. 

Contrast,  by  Lord  Mulgrave.  2  vols. 

Contarini  Flemming,  by  D'Israeli. 

Conversations  with  an  Ambitious  Student, 
12m  o 

Caleb  Williams,  by  Godwin.  2  vols. 

Club  Book.  2  vols. 

Chronicle  of  the  Times  of  Charles  IX. 
12mo. 

Cloudesley,  by  Godwin.  2  vols. 

Clarence,  by  Miss  Sedgwick.  2  vols. 

Country  Curate.  2  vols. 

Coquette,  The,  by  the  Author  of"  Miserri 
mus." 

Cecil  Hyde.  2  vols. 

Castilian,  The,  2  vols. 

Collegians,  The,  2  vols. 

Dominie's  Legacy.  2  vols.  12mo. 

Down-Easters,  by  John  Neal.  2  vols. 

Dramatic  Scenes  from  Real  Life,  by  Lady 
Morgan.  12mo. 

Deloraine,  by  Godwin.  2  vols. 

Dreams  and  Reveries  of  a  Quiet  Man.  2 
vols. 

Doomed,  The. 

De  Vere,  by  Ward.  2  vols. 

Denounced,  The,  by  Banim.  2  vols. 

Destiny,  by  the  author  of  "Marriage." 

Darnley,  by  James.  2  vols. 

Disowned,  The,  by  the  author  of  "  Pel- 
ham."  2  vols. 

Devereux,  by  the  author  of  "  Pelharn."  2 
vols. 


Edgeworth's,  Maria,  Novels  and  Tale*.  10 

vols   I2mo. 

Evenings  at  Home.  2  vols.  18mo. 
Early  Lessons,  by  Miss  Edgeworth.  6  vols. 

18mo. 

Eben  Erskine,  by  Gait.  2  vols. 
Eviliria,  by  Miss  Burney.  2  vols. 
Kcarte,  or  the  Salons  of  Paris.  2  vols. 
English  at  Home.  2  vols. 
Exclusive*,  The.  2  vols. 
Frank  Orby.  2  vols. 
Five  Nights  at  St.  Albans.  2  vols. 
Frankenstein,  by  Mrs.  Shelley.  2  vols. 
Forsaken,  The.  2  vols. 
Foscarini,  or  the  Patrician  of  Venice.  2 

vols. 
Falkland,  by  the   Author  of  "Pelhain." 

12mo. 

Fortunes  of  Perkin  Warbeck.  2  vols. 
Fitz  George.  2  vols. 

Gale  Middleton.  by  Horace  Smith.  2  vols. 
Rodolphin.  2  vols. 
Game,  The,  of  Life.  12mo. 
Helen,  by  Miss  Edgeworth.  1  vol. 
Heiress,  The,  2  vols. 
Headsman,  by  Cooper.  2  vols. 
Harpe's  Head,  by  James  Hall. 
Heidenmauer,  by  Cooper,  2  vols. 
Heroine,  The,  or  Cherubina.  2  vols.  18mo. 
Henry  Masterton,  by  James.  2  vols. 
Hungarian  Tales.  2  vols. 
Jacob  Faithful,  by  the  author  of  -'Peter 

Simple,"  3  vols. 
Invisible  Gentleman.  2  vols. 
Ivan  Vejieghen,  or  Life  in  Russia.  2  vols. 
Jacqueline  of  Holland.  2  vols. 
Inheritance,  The,  by  the  author  of  "  Mar- 
riage." 2  vols. 
incognito,  The.  2  vols. 
Kentuckian  in  New  York,  by  a  Virginian. 

2  vols.  12mo. 
King's    Own,    by  Captain  Marryatt.     2 

vols. 

Knowles',  J.  S.,  Select  Works.  2  vols. 
King's,  The,  Secret,  by  Power.  2  vols. 
Lights  and  Shadows  of  English  Life.  2 

vols.  18mo. 

Love  and  Pride,  by  Hook.  2  vols.  12mo. 
Life  and   Adventures  of    John  Marston 

Hall.  2  vols. 

London  Nights  by  Leitch  Ritchie.  2  vols. 
Last  Man,  by  Mr.  Shelley.  2  vols. 
Lights  and  Shadows  of  German  Life.  2  vs. 
Legends  of  the  Library  at  Lillies.  2  vols. 
Life  ot  a  Sailor.  2  vols. 
Lives  and  Exploits  of  Banditti  and  Eob- 

bers.  2  vols. 

Life  and  Adventures  of  Dr.  Dodimus  Duck- 
worth. 2  vols. 
Legends  of  the  Rhine,  by  T.  C.  Grattan. 

2  vols. 

Legends  of  the  West,  by  James  Hall.  12mo. 
Lost  Heir,  by  Tyrone  Power.  2  vols. 
Last  of  the  Plantagenets.  2  vols. 
Life  in  India.  2  vols. 


WORKS  OF  FICTION. 


29 


Miriam  Coffin,  or  the  Whale  Fisherman 

2  vols. 
Man-of-War's-Man,  by  author  of  "  Tom 

Cringle." 
Modern 'Cymon,  The,  by  Paul  de  Kock. 

vols. 

Mary  of  Burgundy,  by  James.  2  vols. 
Mis<  minus    ISmo. 
Martin   Faber,   by   ihe   author  of  "Guy 

Rivers." 

MansnVId  Park,  by  Miss  Austen.  2  vols. 
Match  Making,  and  other  Tales.  2  vols. 
Marriage  2  vols. 
Maxwell,  by  T  Hook.  2  vols. 
Miseries  of  Marriage.  2  vols. 
Mothers  and  Daughters.  2  vols. 
Naval  Stories,  by'Leggett.  18mo. 
Nun,  The,  by  Mrs.  Sherwood.  12mo. 
Newton   Foster,   by  Captain  Marryatt.  2 

vols. 
Naval  Officer,  by  the  author  of  "  Peter 

Simple,"  2  vols. 

New  Gil  Bias,  by  H.  D.  Inglis.  2  vols. 
Northanger  Abbey,  by    Misa    Austen.  2 

vols. 

New  Forrest.  2  vols. 
Novels  and  Tales,  by  the  author  of  "  Wa 

verley,"  complete  in  27  vols.  12mo. 
Novels  and  Prose  Works,  by  the  author  of 

"  Waverley."  7  vols.  8vo. 
Outre  Mer,  by  Longfellow.  8vo. 
Our  Island.  2  vols. 

Outlaw's  Bride,  and  other  Tales.  2  vcls. 
Our  Village,  by  Miss  Mitford,  4  vols. 
Pilgrims  of  the  Rhine,  by  Bulwer.  2  vols. 
Perils  of  Pearl  Street.  12mo. 
Pickens'  Traditionary  Stories.  12mo. 
Pin  Money.  2  vola. 

Peter  Simple,  or  Adventures  of  a  Midship- 
man. 3  vols.  12mo 

Paris,  or  the  Book  of  the  101.  2  vols.      . 
Parson's  Daughter,  by  Theo.  Hook.  2  vols. 
Pride  and  Prejudice,  by  Miss  Austin.  2  vols. 
Persuasion,  by  Miss  Austin.  2  vols. 
Philip  Augustus,  by  James.  2  vols. 
Polish  Chiefs.  2  vols.  J2mo. 
Persian  Adventurer,  by  Frnzer.  2  vols. 
Paul  Clifford.  2  vols.  12mo. 
Peace  Campaigns  of  a  Cornet.  2  vols. 
Private  Life.  2  vols. 
Pelham.  2  vols. 
Repealers,  The,  by  the  Countess  of  Bles- 

sington.  2  vols. 

Rosine  Laval,  by  Mr.  Smith.  12mo. 
Recollections  of  a  Chaperon.  2  vols. 
Refugee  in  America,  by  Mrs.  Trollope.  2 

vols. 

Romance  and  Reality,  by  L.  E.  L.  2  vols. 
Roxobel,  by  Mrs.  Sherwood.  3  vols. 
Romance  of  History,  England,  by   Neele. 

2  vols. 
Romance  of  History,  France,  by  Ritchie. 

2  vols 
Romance  of  History,  Italy,  by  Macfarland. 

2  vols. 
Romance  of  History,  Spain,  by  Trueba. 

2  vols. 
Rybrent  de  Cruce:  2  vols. 

3* 


Rivals,  The,  2  vola. 

Richelieu,  by  James.  2  vols. 

Romance  of  Real  Life,  2  vola. 

Redwood.  2  vols. 

Sigourney's,  Mrs.,  Sketches.  ISmo. 

Speculation,  by  Miss  Pardoe.  2  vols. 

Staff  Officers,  or  Soldier  of  Fortune.  2  vol*. 

tivo. 

Sketch  Book  of  Fashion.  2  vols.  12mo. 
String  of  Pearls,  by  G.  R.  P.  James.  1  vol. 
Service  Afloat.  12mo. 
Stanley  Bu.Uon,  by  Gait.  2  vols. 
Stolen  Child  by  Gait.  ISmo. 
Slave  King.  Victor  Hugo.  18mo. 
Salathiel,  by  Geo.  Croly.  2  vols. 
Sydenham,  or  Memoirs  of  a  Man  of  the 

World.  2  vols. 
Sumn.er,  The,  Fete,  with  Songs,  by  T. 

Moore.  IHmo. 
Sayings  and  Doings  in  Tremont  House. 

2  vols. 
Swallow  Barn,  or  a  Sojourn  in  the  Old 

Dominion. 

Saturday  Evening.  12mo. 
Seward's,  Sir    E..   Narrative,   edited   by 

Miss  Porter.  3  vols. 
Sixty  Years  in  the  Life  of  Jeremy  Levis, 

2  vols.  ]2mo. 

Stories  of  Waterloo.  2  vols. 

Stories  of  a  Bride,  2  vols 

Separation,  The,  2  vols 

Sailors  and  Saints,  2  vols 

Stratum  Hill,  2  vols 

Schoel  of  Fashion,  2  vols 

Tales  and  Sketches,  such  as  they  are,  by 

W.  L.  Stone,  2  vols 
Two  Old  Men's  Tales,  2  vols 
Traits  and  Traditions  of  Portugal,  by  Miss 

PardoR,  2  vols 

Tom  Cringle's  Log,  complete  in  3  vols.  12mo 
Trevelyan,  2  vols  12mo 
Traits  and  Stories  of  the  Irish  Peasantry, 

3  series,  6  vols 

Tales  of  Military  Life,  12mo 

Tales  of  Glauber  Spa,  2  vols 

Tales  of  the  Early  Ages,  by  Horace  Smith, 
2  vols 

Tuilleries.  The,  2  vols 

Tremaine,  3  vols 

Three,  The,  Histories,  by  Miss  Jewsbury, 
12mo 

Talba,  The,  or  Moor  of  Portugal 

Tales  of  Military  Life,  2  vols 

Tales  of  Passion,  by  Gilbert  Earle,  2  vols 

Village  Belles,  2  vols 

Wondrous,  The,  Tale  of  Alroy,  by  D'Is. 

raeli,  2  vols 

iVacousta,  or  the  Prophecy,  2  vols. 
iVhigs  of  Scotland,  2  vols 
Vife,  The,  by  Sheridan  Knowles 
Va  verley  Anecdotes,  by  Sir  Walter  Scott, 

2  vols  1 -JUKI 

Vild  Sports  of  the  West,  2  vols 
Vestward  Ho  !  by  Paulding,  2  vols 
Valter  Colyton. 
Valdegrave,  2  vols. 

^oung,  The.  Duke,  by  D'Israeli.   2  vols, 

Zohrab,  by  Morier,  2  vole. 


CATALOGUE  OF 


LAW. 


Adams  on  Ejectments,  by  Tillinghast.gvo. 

Abbott  on  Shipping,  by  Judge  story,  8vo 

AngeU  on  Tide  Waters.  8vo. 

Angell  on  Adverse  Enjoyment.  8vo. 

Angell  on  Limitations.  Svo. 

Angell  and  Ames  on  Corporations.  8vo. 

Anthon's  Blackstooe. 

American  Constitutions. 

Azuni's  Maritime  Law. 

Archbold's  Civil  Pleading. 

Archbold's  Criminal  Pleading. 

Ai-chbold's  Forms  and  Entries. 

Archbold's  Practice. 

Atkyn's  Report,  by  Saunders.  3  vols. 

American  Digest,  by  Anthon,  Day,  and 
Wharton.  5  vols. 

Burlemaqui  Law.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Bayle  on  Bills,  by  Philips  and  Sewall.  8vo. 

Bigelow's  Digest  of  Massachusetts  Re- 
..•  >ri>.  8vo. 

Bayard,  J.,  on  the  Constitution.  lOmo. 

Bache's  Manual. 

Binney's  Reports.  6  vols.  8vo. 

Bacon's  Abridgment. 

Ballentine  on  Limitations. 

Barnwell  and  Alderson's  Reports.  4  vols. 

Bailey  on  Bills  of  Exchange. 

Beame's  Pleas  in  Equity. 

Beck's  Medical  Jurisprudence. 

Beccaria  on  Crimes. 

Bingham  on  Infancy. 

Bigelow's  Digest. 

Blake's  Chancery. 

Bosanquet  and  Puller's  Reports. 

Burrow's  Reports. 

Burr's  Trial. 

Commercial  Directory  and  Digest  of  Laws 
of  the  United  States,  relating  to  Com- 
merce, by  M.  Moses.  8vo. 

Cowen's  Reports,  8vo. 

Crabbe's  History  of  English  Law.  8vo 

Chitty  on  Pleading.  3  vols. 

Chitty  on  Criminal  Law. 

Chitty  on  Parties  to  Actions.  Svo. 

C'hitty's  Practice. 

Chitty  on  Bills. 

Chitty  on  Blackstone.  2  vols.  8vc«. 

Chitty  on  the  Laws  of  Nations. 

Cbjtty  on  Contracts. 

Chilly's  Equity  Digest. 

Cherokee  Case. 

Chipman  on  Contracts. 

Clancy  on  Married  Women. 

Coke  upon  Littleton,  by  Thomas. 

Corny n  on  Contracts. 

Comyn's  Digest. 

Commercial  Compendium 

Cooper's  Chancery  Cases. 

Cooper's  Justinian. 

Cooper's  Equity  Pleadings. 

Cowen's  Reports.  9  vols. 

Coxe's  Chancery  Cases. 

Cruize  on  Real  Property. 

Dane's.  N.,  Abridgment  of  American  Law. 
9  vols.  Svo. 


Duer's,  W.  A.,  Outlines  of  Constitutional 
Jurisprudence.  12mo. 

Davis',  D.,  Precedents.  8vo. 

Dallas'  Reports. 

Diplomatic  Correspondence  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  edited  by  Jared  Spark* 
12  vols. 

Diinlnp's  New  York  Practice. 

Durnford  and  East's  Reports. 

East's  Reports,  by  Day. 

East's  Crown  Laws. 

Eden  on  Injunctions. 

Edward's  Admiralty  Reports. 

English  Chancery  Reports.  5  vols. 

English  Ecclesiastical  Reports.  4  vols. 

English  Common  Law  Reports.  23  vols 

Espinasse  on  Evidence. 

Espinasse  on  Penal  Actions. 

Equity  Draftsman. 

Evans'  Pleading. 

Fonblanque's  Equity.  8vo. 

Form  Book,  The,  containing  nearly  500  of 
the  most  approved  precedents.  12mo. 

Fearne  on  Remainders. 

Federalist. 

Fell  on  Guarantees. 

Field's  Analysis  of  Blackstone. 

Gould  on  Pleading.  8vo. 

Gow  on  Partnership.  8vo. 

Gordon's  Digest  of  the  Laws  of  the  United 
States. 

Graydon's  Forms. 

Graydon's  Justice. 

Hughes,  D.,  on  Insurance.  8vo. 

Hughes',  S.,  Digested  I  ndex.  8vo. 

Hovenden  on  Frauds. ¥vo. 

Hoffman's  Legal  Outlines. 

Hall  on  Loans. 

Hall's  Admiralty  Practice. 

Hammond's  Nisi  Prius. 

Harris'  Entries. 

Henning's  Justice. 

Highmore  on  Lunacy. 

Hoffman's  Legal  Study. 

Hall  on  Libels. 

Hovenden's  Supplement  to  Vesey,  Jr. 

Johnson's  Reports.  20  vuls.  8vo. " 

Johnson's  Chancery  Reports.  7  vote.  8vo. 

Johnson's  Index. 

Jacobson's  Sea  Laws. 

Jacobs  and  Walker's  Chancery  Reports. 

Jeremy's  Equity.  8vo. 

Ingersoll's  Abridgment. 

Ingraham  on  Insolvency. 

Jacobs'  Law  Dictionary. 

Jones  on  Bailment. 

Kent's  Commentary  on  American  Law  4 
vols.  8vo. 

Kyd  on  Awards. 

Long  on  Sales.  8vo. 

Laws  on  Pleading. 

Livennove  on  Agen-.y. 

Mathews,  J.,  on  Evidence,  by  Rand.  8vo- 

Massachusetts  Reports.  J7  vols.  8vrx 

Mason's  Reports.  8vo. 


MEDICAL  BOOKS. 


31 


Mitford's  Pleadings. 

Maule  and  Selwyn's  Reports. 

Maddock's  Chancery  Practice.  2  vols. 

Maddock's  Chancery  Reports. 

McNally's  Evidence. 

Merivale's  Chancery  Reports. 

Metcalf  's  Digest. 

Montagu  on  Lien. 

Montagu  on  Set-Off. 

Montuftore's  Precedents. 

Newland's  Chancery  Practice. 

NewUnri's  Contracts. 

Noy's  Maxims. 

Oliver's  American  Precedents.  8vo. 

Pickering's,  O.,  Reports.  11  vols.  8vo. 

Pardon's,  John,  Digest  of  the  Laws  of 

Pennsylvania.  8vo. 
Philips  on  Insurance. 
Peters',  R.  Condensed  Reports  of  Supreme 

Court.  5  vols.  8vo. 

Peters',  R.,  Supreme  Court  Reports.  8vo. 
Peters',  R.,  Condensed  Chancery  Reports. 
Petersdorff's  Abridgment.  15  vols.  8vo. 
Paine  and  Duer's  New  York  Practice. 
Paley  on  Agency. 
Peake's  Evidence,  by  Norris. 
Peere  William's  Chancery  Reports. 
Pothier  on  Obligations. 
Pothier  on  Contracts. 
Powell  on  Contracts. 
Powell  on  Devises. 
Powell  on  Mortgages. 
Powell  on  Powers. 
Preston  on  Estates. 
Preston  on  Legacies. 
Report  of  the  Trial  of  Judge  Peck.  8vo. 
Roscoe  on  Evidence.  8vo. 
Randall's  Peake's  Evidence. 
Read's  Precedents. 
Revised  Code  of  New  York. 
Roberts  on  Frauds. 

Roberts  on  Fraudulent  Conveyancing. 
Roberts  on  Wills. 
Roper  on  Legacies.  8vo. 
Rawle  on  the  Constitution. 
Roper  on  Wills. 
Roper  on  the  Laws  of  Husband  and  Wife. 


Russell  on  Crimes. 

Russell's  Chancery  Reports. 

Sugden  on  Venders.  8vo. 

Sugden  on  Power*.  8vo. 

Starkie  on  Slander,  new  edition,  2  vols. 

Sergeant  and  Lowber's  Common  Law  Re- 
ports. 23  vols.  8vo. 

Story's,  Judge,  Commentaries.  3  vols.  8vo. 

Story's,  Judge,  Commentaries,  abridged, 
1  vol.  8vo. 

Story's,  Judge,  Laws  of  the  United  States. 
3  vols. 

Stevens  and  Bernecke  on  Averaee  bv 
Phillips.  8vo. 

Stearns  on  Real  Actions.  8vo. 

Story  on  Bailments.  8vo. 

Sauriderson  Pleading  and  Evidence.  3  vols 
8vo. 

Salkeld's  Reports. 

Saunders  on  Uses  and  Trusts. 

Saunders'  Reports,  by  Williams. 

Sellon's  Practice. 

Selwyn's  Nisi  Prius. 

Sergeant  on  Attachment. 

Sergeant's  Constitutional  Law. 

Starkie  on  Evidence,  new  edition.  2  vols. 

Stephens  on  Pleading. 

Swanston's  Chancery  Reports. 

Swift's  Digest. 

Thomas'  Coke  Littleton.  3  vols.  8vo. 

Toller's  Law  of  Executors.  8vo. 

Tidd's  Practice.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Taunlon's  Reports. 

Tidd's  Practice. 

Tomlin's  Index. 

Troubat  and  Haly's  Digest. 

Tucker's  Blackstone. 

Theobald  on  Principal  and  Surety. 

Veeey  Jr.  and  Vesey  and  Beanie's  Supple- 
ment. 24  vols.  8vo. 

Vesey 's,  Sen.,  Chancery  Reports.  2  vols. 

Vernon's  Chancery  Reports. 

Viner's  Abridgment. 

Vattel's  Law  of  Nations. 

Wendall's,  J.  L.,  Reports. 

Williams  on  Executors.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Wentworth  on  Executors.  8vo. 


MEDICAL  BOOKS. 


Andral's  Pathological  Anatomy,  2  vols.Svo 

Abercrombie  on  the  Brain,  8vo. 

Abercrombie  on  the  Stomach.  8vo. 

Averil's  Surgery.  12mo. 

Ayre  on  the  Liver.  18mo. 

American    Gentlemen's    Medical    Pocket 

Book.  24mo. 
American    Ladies'  Medical  Pocket  Book 

24mo. 

Avery  on  Dyspepsia.  l?mo. 
Burns  on  the  Head  and  Neck. 
Burns  on  Inflammation. 
Burn'*  Midwifery,  by  James.  2  vols.  8vo. 


Bell's  Anatomy.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Bell's  Arteries,  coloured  plates.  ?yo. 

Bell  on  Bones  and  Joints,  coloured  plate* 

4to. 

Bell's  Surgery. 
Bell  on  Teeth.  8vo. 
Bell  on  Nerves.  8vo. 
Bostock's  Physiology.  3  vols. 
Broussais'  Physiology.  8vo. 
Broussais'  Phlegmasia.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Broussais'  Insanity.  8vo. 
Boisseau  on  Fever.  8vo. 
Barton's  Culleu.  2  vols. 


32 


CATALOGUE  OF 


Barton's  Medical  Botany.  2  vols.  4 to.  co- 
loured plates. 

Brando's  Chemistry.  8vo. 

Berlin  on  Diseases  of  the  Heart.  Svo. 

Baudelucque  on  Puerperal  Peritonitis.  8vo. 

Hirliat  on  Life  and  Death,  tivo. 

Beck's  Murray's  Materia  Medica.  8vo. 

Bell  on  Wounds.  8vo. 

Bell  on  Venereal. 

Bateman's  Cutaneous  Diseases.  8vo. 

Bancroft  on  Fever.  8vo. 

Bichat's  Physiology  and  Pathology,  8vo. 

Bailie's  Morbid  Anatomy.  8vo. 

Beclard's  Anatumy.  8vo. 

Buchan's  Domestic  Medicine.  8vo. 

Brodie  on  the  Joints.  Hvo.  X 

Beaumont  on  the  Gastric  Juice.  Svo. 

Bougery's  Treatise  on  Minor  Surgery.  8vo. 

Cooper's,  S.  Surgical  Dictionary.  8vo. 

Cooper's,  S.,  Surgerv.  2  vols.  bvo. 

Cooper's,  Sir  A.,"Lectures.  3  vols.  8vo. 

Cooper,  Sir  A.,  on  Dislocations.  8vo. 

Cooke'a  Morgagni.  2  vols. 

Cooke  on  White  Mustard  Seed. 

Colle's  Surgical  Anatomy. 

C.issenave  and  Schadel  on  Cutaneous  Dis- 
eases. 8vo. 

Cook's  Pathology  and  Therapeutics.  <J  vols. 
8vo. 

Cooper  and  Traver's  Surgical  Essays.  8vo. 

Caldwell's  Cullen.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Coster's  Surgical  Operations. 

Cloquet's  Anatomy.  8vo. 

Combe's,  Dr.,  Phrenology.  8vo. 

Combe's  Treatise  on  Mental  Derangement. 
12mo. 

Copeland's,  Jas.,  Medical  Dictionary.  8vo. 

Chemistry  of  the  Arts.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Cox's  Dispensatory.  8vo. 

Chapman's  Therapeutics.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Calhoun's  Prout  on  Urinary  Organs.  8vo. 

Coster's  Physiological  Practice.  8vo. 

Cooke  on  Nervous  Diseases.  8vo. 

Dewees'  Practice,  2d  edition.  8vo. 

De wees'  Midwifery.  8vo. 

Dewees'  Females.  8vo. 

Dewees'  Children.  8vo. 

Dewees'  Baudelocque.  8vo. 

Denman's  Midwifery,  by  Francis.  8vo. 

Dunglisson's  Physiology.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Dunglisson's  Medical  Dictionary.  2  vols. 
8vo. 

Ducamp  on  Retention  of  Urine.  8vo. 

Dupuytren's  Lectures  on  Surgery.  8vo. 

Desruelles  on  Venereal. 

Darwin's  Zoonomia.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Darwin's  Pyrotologia.  8vo. 

Daniell  on  Fevers.  8vo. 

Desault's  Surgery.  8vo. 

Dorsey's  Surgery.  8vo. 

Dean's  Lectures  on  Phrenology.  12mo. 

Dutfin  on  the  Spine.  12mo. 

Eberle's  Practice.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Eberle's  Diseases  of  Children.  8vo. 

Eberle's  Therapeutics,  4th  edition. 

Ewell's  Medical  Companion,  8th  edition. 

Eclectic  Repertory. 

Edinburg  Dispensatory.  Svo. 

Edward's  Manual  of  Materia  Medica.  8vo. 

Emerson's  Cannichael  on  Venereal.  8vo. 

Elliott's  Dotany.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Farraday's  Chemical  Manipulations.  8vo. 


Ferriar's  Medical  Histories.  8vo. 
Fordyce  on  Fevers.  8vo. 
Faithorn  on  the  Liver,  tivo. 
Fisher  on  Small  Pox.  4to.  coloured  plate*. 
Pitch's  Dental  Surgery.  8vo. 
Gooch's  Midwifery.  8vo. 
Gooch's  Females.  8vo. 
Gross'  Manual  of  Anatomy.  8vo. 
Gross'  Manual  of  Anatomy  of  Bones.  8vo 
Gross'  Manual  of  Obstetrics.  8vo. 
Gorham's  Medical  Chemistry.  8vo. 
Greenhow  on  Cholera.  8vo. 
Godman's,  J.   D.,  Anatomical  Investiga- 
tions. Svo. 

Godinan's  Addresses.  1  vol.  8vo. 
Gonpil's  Exposition  of  the  New  Medical 

Doctrine.  8vo. 

Gibson's  Surgery.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Graham  on  Indigestion.  8vo. 
Good's  Study  of  Medicine.  5  vols.  Svo. 
Green's  Chemistry.  8vo. 
Great,  The,  Sympathetic  Nerve,  a  plate 

coloured. 

Graham  on  Indigestion.  8vo. 
Hall  on  Digestive  Organs,  8vo. 
Hall  on  Loss  of  Blood.  8vd. 
Homer's  Pathological  Anatomy.  2vols.8vo. 
Hennen's  Military  Surgery.  8vo.  ». 

Hamilton's  Midwifery.  8vo. 
Hamilton  on  Purgatives.  8vo. 
Hooper's  Medical  Dictionary.  8vo. 
Hosack's  Medical  Essays.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Heberden's  Medical  Commentaries.  8vo. 
Hutin's  Physiology.  12mo. 
Henry's  Chemistry,  by  Hare.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Hare's  Chemistry.  8vo. 
Homer's  Practical  Anatomy.  8vo. 
Homer's  Special  Anatomy.  2  vole.  8ro. 
Hunter  on  the  Blood.    8vo. 
Hunter  on  Venereal.  8vo. 
Halstead  on  Dyspepsia.  12mo. 
In nes  on  the  Muscles.  8vo. 
Ji)hnson,  James,  on  the  Liver.  8vo. 
Johnson,  James,  on  Climate.  Svo. 
Johnson,  James,  on  Stomach,  Bowels,  &c. 

12mo. 

Johnson,  James,  on  Change  of  Airs.  Svo. 
Johnson's.  James,  Civic  Life.  Svo. 
Johnson's,  James,  Cancer.  12mo. 
Johnson's,  James,  Leech.  12mo. 
Jones  on  Hemorrhage.  Svo. 
James'  Bums.  2  vols.  Hvo. 
James'  Burns.  1  vol.  Svo. 
James'  Merriman   1  vol.  Svo. 
Jackson's,  Samuel,  Principles  of  Medicine. 

Svo. 

London  Practice  of  Midwifery.  8vo. 
Lavoisier's  Chemistry.  Svo. 
Lawrence's  Physiology.  Svo. 
Lady's  The,  Me  iical  Guide,  by  the  late  R. 

Rush.  18mo. 

Laennec  on  the  Chest.  Svo. 
Laenncc  on  the  Stethoscope.  18mo. 
Larrey's  Surgical  Memoirs.  8vo. 
Larrey's  Surgical  Essays.  Svo. 
Larrey's  Gun-Shot  Wounds.  Svo. 
Lobstein  on  the  Eye.  Svo. 
Medico-Chirurgical  Transactions,  selected 

bj  Dr.  Hays.  Svo. 
Meygrier's  Anatomy,  large  12rno. 
Meygrier's   Midwifery,    by  Doane.  large 

Svo. 


MEDICAL  BOOKS. 


33 


Martinet's  Manual  of  Pathology.   12mo. 

Martinet's  Therapeutics.  li-m<>. 

Maclean  on  Hydrothorax.  8vo. 

Miller's  Life  and  Medical  Writings.    8vo. 

Mosely's  Tracts.  8vo. 

Miner  and  Tully  on  Fevers.  8vo. 

Morton -on  Consumption,  coloured  platea. 

8va 

Mackensie  on  the  Eye.  8vo. 
Meckel's  Anatomy.  3  vols.  8vo. 
Orfila  on  Poisons.  12mo. 
Pharmacopeia  of  the  United  States.  8vo. 
Parr's  Medical  Dictionary.  2  vols.  4to. 
Paris  Pharmacologia. 
Phillips  on  Indigestion.  8vo. 
Phillips  on  Vital  Functions.  8vo. 
Phillips  on  Acute  and  Chronic  Diseases. 

8vo. 

Pemberton  on  the  Viscera. 
Paxton's  Illustrations  of  Anatomy.  2  vols. 

8vo. 

Parson's  Anatomical  Preparations.  8vo. 
Rush's  Inquiries.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Rush's  Lectures    8vo. 
Rush  on  the  Mind.  8vo. 
Rush's  Hillary.  8vo. 

Ryland'a  Manual  of  the  Stethoscope.  12mo. 
Richerand's  Physiology,  8vo. 
Saissy  on  the  Ear.  8vo. 
Swediaur  on  Syphilis.  8vo. 
Scudamore  on  Gout.  8vo. 
Silliman's  Chemistry.  2  vols.  8vo. 
Smith  and  Tweedie  on  Fevers.  8vo. 


Smith's  Botanic  Physician.  8vo. 

Surgeon  Dentist's  Manual.  18mo, 

Synies'  Surgeiy.  8vo. 

Snell  on  Teeth.  8vo. 

Silliman's  Journal  of  Science  and  Art. 
8vo. 

Spurzheim's  Anatomy  of  the  Brain.  8vo. 

Spurzheim's  Phrenology.  2  vols.  8vo. 

bpurzheim's  Physiognomy  applied  to  Phre- 
nology. 8vo. 

Spinal  Axis,  The,  plate  coloured. 

Thomson  on  Inflammation.  8vo. 

Teale  on  Neuralgia.  8vo. 

Tate  on  Hysteria.  8vo. 

Thomson  on  Varioloid.  8vo. 

Travers  on  the  Eye,  coloured  plates.  8vo. 

Thacher's  Dispensatory.  8vo. 

Thacher's  Practice.  8vo. 

Thomson's  Chemistry.  4  vols.  8vo. 

Tweedie  on  Fever.  8vo. 

Tuson's  Dissector.  12mo. 

Ure's  Chemical  Dictionary.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Underwood  on  Diseases  of  Children,  flvo. 

United  States  Dispensatory.  8vo. 

United  States  Pharmacopeia.  8vo. 

Valpeau's  Anatomy.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Valpeau's  Midwifery.  8vo. 

Webb's  Philosophy  of  Medicine.  8vo. 

Webster  on  Pestilence.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Wistar's  Anatomy.  2  vols.  8vo. 

Willan  on  the  Skin.  8vo. 

Webster's  Chemistry.  8vo. 

Williams  on  the  Lungs. 


IN  addition  to  the  above,  HOGAN  &  THOMPSON  have  con- 
stantly a  large  and  general  assortment  of  all  articles  of  the 
Book  and  Stationary  line : — Blank  Books  of  every  descrip- 
tion, such  as  Memorandums;  1,  2,  3,  4,  5  and  6  quire  half- 
bound  Cap  Account  Books ;  all  sizes  of  full-bound  do. ;  4,  5, 
6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11  and  12  quire  (full-bound  Russia  ends)  Demi, 
Medium  and  Royal  Day  Books,  Journals,  Legers,  Records 
and  Dockets ;  Copy  Books,  Cyphering  Books,  Bank  Books, 
Receipt  Books,  &c.  &c.  &c. ;  all  the  various  kinds  of  Post, 
Cap,  Medium,  Demi  and  Royal  Writing  and  Drawing  paper, 
&c. ;  Quills  from  $1  to  $50  per  1000;  Lead  pencils  from 
10  cents  to  $1.25  per  dozen;  Slate  Pencils  and  Slates;  Ink- 


34  STATIONARY,  &C. 

stands  of  every  description,  Indian  Rubber,  Black  Sand, 
Sand  Boxes,  Wafer  Stamps,  Bill  Files,  Paint  Boxes  for  chil- 
dren of  various  sizes,  Osborn's  Water  Colours,  Camel's-hair 
Pencils,  Sable  do.,  Globes,  Musical  Instruments,  Music,  Vi- 
siting Cards,  Printing  Cards,  &c.  &c. 


3w  Novels  and  New  Works  in  every  department 
,  of  literature  received  as  soon  as  published,  and  forwarded 
punctually  to  any  orders. 

Public,  Private  and  Social  Libraries,  and  all  who  pur- 
chase to  sell  again,  supplied  on  the  most  reasonable  terms. 

***  All  orders  thankfully  received   and  punctually  at- 
tended to. 


THE  LIB 

Y  Oi?  CALIFORNIA 


LC75 
W72h 


